Digimon: Child of Hope and Light
by Count Morningstar
Summary: Two months after the events of Demon Crisis and The Crimson Plague, T.K. and Kari find a child with no memory of her past and two Digimon partners. In order to protect the child from a great evil, the couple must unravel the mystery of her past. Contains characters from the Digimon Next and V-Tamer 01 manga.
1. Little Girl Lost

**Introduction:** Not long ago, a fellow fan fiction writer known as mindmaster123 began another Digimon story called _Digimon Adventure 03_ (which is really quite good). That story got me to thinking about how I've sort of neglected my own Digimon series. It's not something I intended to happen of course. So I decided to try and pick the series up again. I know I still need to do my prequel about Team Excalibur, but I'm going to wait until after I take care of another big story to tackle that. For now, I'm going to pick things up from where they were left off at the end of _Digimon: The Crimson Plague_.

In this next story, we'll be seeing a few characters from the Digimon manga. Two will be characters from the manga, _Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01_. And one character will be from the manga, _Digimon Next_. By the way, I want to go on record as saying that I got the idea for this story long before seeing _Sword Art Online_. Those familiar with SAO will probably figure out what I'm talking about.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 1: Little Girl Lost

It was the beginning of a typical Friday morning for Kari Takaishi. She sat outside on a bench at her college campus drinking her usual cup of coffee as she waited for her seven-thirty class to start. Upon looking at her watch, Kari noticed that she had only ten minutes before class began. So after quickly finishing her coffee and disposing of the cup, Kari got up and headed for the appropriate building. On her way there, Kari encountered another young woman in her early twenties with long dark-red hair.

"Morning Kari." The woman greeted as she began to walk next to her.

"Good morning, Yoko." Kari greeted back.

"So, how's married life treating you?" Yoko asked.

"T.K. and I are doing just fine." Kari answered.

"I still can't believe someone as young as you is already married." Kari's classmate stated. "I mean your husband seems like a great guy from what you've told me, but whatever happened to living little?"

"Trust me, Yoko. There are some things in life that are just too important to wait for." Kari told her.

"Jeez, you can sound like an old lady sometimes." Yoko replied. "But then I guess if I had a boyfriend like your husband, I probably wouldn't want to wait to marry him either. I guess you really are lucky."

Kari was about to agree when she suddenly heard a croaking noise that caused her to freeze and let out a small scream. All the color had completely drained from her face.

"Whoa! Chill out, Kari." Yoko told her as she took the chestnut-haired girl's arm. "It's just some frogs being transported by one of the biology nerds."

Kari looked and indeed saw that a scrawny young man with freckles and braces was carrying around a glass tank full of small green frogs. She had thought that the sound of those hideous fish-frog things from that living hell known as the Dark Ocean. But as reality sank in, Kari breathed a sigh of relief.

"Since when have you been so scared of frogs?" Yoko asked.

"It's… something that's not easy for me to talk about." Kari replied.

"Well, let's get going." Yoko told her. "We don't want to be late."

"Yeah." Kari agreed as she and Yoko continued walking.

It took awhile for Kari to fully relax after hearing the sound of those frogs. Though the steady monotone of the professor teaching her class seemed to help. It had taken quite some time for Kari to recover from that month when she was held prisoner in Dark Ocean to serve as a sacrifice for the hideous Dragomon, and the experience had left her with a few mental scars. She would have small panic attacks whenever she heard the sound of anything that resembled a frog, and the smell of fish still made her queasy. It was also quite some time before Kari would even consider going near a beach.

Yet since that dark time, Kari had recovered a great deal, largely in thanks to T.K. and her friends. It had been two months since the Digidestined did battle with Lucemon, the leader of a group of evil Digimon known as the Seven Lords. Things were a little difficult at first after the battle. Kari had to retake a few of the classes she had missed during her month of captivity and the following month she and T.K. had spent at the home of their fellow Digidestined, Arthur Pierce, and she had to get a new part-time job. But it wasn't too long before things smoothed out.

In the mornings, Kari would take a few classes, and in the afternoons she would work her part-time job at a nearby bookstore. During that time, there had been no attacks by rogue Digimon or any attempts by anyone to conquer the human or Digital worlds. Life had become very peaceful. To Kari, it seemed like everything was perfect. Though there were a few times when Kari wondered if it would ever last.

The evening came, and Kari was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Sitting on the corner of the table was a large white cat with yellow gloves on her front paws and a golden ring around her tail. This of course was Kari's Digimon partner, Gatomon. Kari heard the door to the apartment open. A few seconds later, T.K. entered the kitchen, and flying off the top of the blonde's head to the table was the orange mammal-like Digimon that was his partner, Patamon.

"Hi." T.K. greeted as he walked over and kissed Kari on the cheek. "Is dinner almost ready?"

"Yep, just needs a few more minutes." Kari replied. "Ken and Yolei are still coming over, right?"

"As far as I know." T.K. confirmed as he sat at the table. "I wonder what it is they want to talk to us about."

"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." Kari replied. "Maybe it's about their wedding."

"I thought Yolei had already figured out the details for that." T.K. recalled.

"Did they?" Kari asked. "I don't really remember. Did she and Ken settle everything during… that month I was gone?"

"No, they were a little more busy dealing with… something else." T.K. replied.

"You mean Davis, right?" Kari assumed. "It's okay T.K., I'm over that now."

"If you say so." T.K. replied. "I just hope Davis isn't the thing they want to talk to us about."

A few minutes later came the arrival of T.K. and Kari's friends and fellow Digidestined, Ken Ichijouji and Yolei Inoue. The four humans sat at the table to eat while Ken and Yolei's Digimon, Wormmon and Hawkmon, had dinner with Patamon and Gatomon in a corner of the kitchen. Conversation during the dinner was light. When it was finished, Kari began taking the plates to the counter.

"So you guys, what is it you wanted to talk to us about?" Kari asked Ken and Yolei as she put the first plate in the sink.

"Well, we kind of hoping you'd do us a favor, Kari." Ken began with a hesitant expression. "We sort of need your help with Davis."

Silence immediately fell over the room with the sound of the plate in Kari's hand breaking in half. Calmly, Kari put the remains of the broken plate in the trash and turn to face everyone.

"Could you excuse me for a moment?" Kari requested with an insincere smile before calmly leaving the room.

Yolei sighed heavily as she removed her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose. "I knew it was too soon for her to help us."

"Hey, you can't blame Kari for reacting that way." Gatomon pointed out from the corner of the small kitchen. "That idiot Davis did cheat on her three times."

"She's not as bad as she used to be though." Patamon interjected. "Before, Kari would've thrown the plate against the wall. This time she's a lot calmer."

"Just what is it that you need Kari to help Davis with?" T.K. asked with a suspicious look.

"Well it's certainly not what you think!" an offended Yolei assured him.

"Calm down, Yolei." Ken calmly told her.

"Just what is going on with Davis, anyway?" T.K. asked. "Is he living with you guys again?"

"God no!" Yolei answered. "But… he is starting to drive us crazy again."

"Davis has been coming over every evening to spend time with us." Ken explained. "It's starting to effect our love life a bit."

"Oh." T.K. responded with an expression of understanding.

At that moment, Kari walked back into the room and sat next to T.K. "Okay, so just what is it that you need me to help Davis with?"

"Well you see Davis needs a new girlfriend." Yolei began. "And you obviously know Davis pretty well, so Ken and I thought that maybe you might be able to recommend someone he might like."

"The last time I checked, there were still plenty of drunken sorority girls out there." Kari told them.

"Kari, Davis isn't like that anymore." Ken assured her. "Look, it isn't just because of the way things ended between you two. Ever since Lilithmon seduced him and tried to turn him into her slave, Davis has kind of been avoiding women. Both Yolei and I think that it's time for him to get back out there."

Kari gave a relented sigh. "Okay. If I can think of anyone Davis might like, I'll let you know."

"Thanks a bunch, Kari." Yolei replied. "Well, it's late and Ken and I should be going. See you guys later." With that, Ken and Yolei left with Wormmon and Hawkmon.

The following Saturday morning, Kari and T.K. went out with Gatomon and Patamon to do a little shopping and browsing at the small farmer's market a few blocks away from their apartment building. Shopping at the market had become a weekly routine for them, one that all four greatly enjoyed.

"So, have you thought any more about helping Davis?" T.K. asked.

"A little." Kari admitted. "I was thinking of setting him up with my friend Yoko. But I don't know. I don't want her to be hurt the same way I was."

"Ken and Yolei both seem to think Davis has changed." T.K. pointed out. "Maybe they're right."

Before the conversation could continue, the four were alerted to the sudden sound of crates crashing to the ground. The four looked and saw what looked like a small bipedal dog with blue and white fur running down the sidewalk. The creature had a long red band tied around its head, and on its front paws it wore a pair of red boxing gloves. The dog was carrying a loaf of bread.

"Is that a Digimon?" T.K. asked.

"I think that's a Gaomon, but I'm not sure." Patamon answered. "I've never actually seen one before."

Running a few steps behind the dog was a creature that looked like a small yellow t-rex with green eyes and well-developed arms. Around its wrists were red crisscrossing bands.

"Is that Agumon?" a surprised Kari identified.

"That's not our Agumon." Gatomon told them as she narrowed her eyes. "This one has a different scent."

Running after the two Digimon was a bald and slightly overweight shopkeeper. "Hey! Come back with that bread, you thieves!"

The rogue Agumon turned around and breathed out a fireball that blocked the shopkeeper's path. Taking matters into her own paws, Gatomon began to run after the thieves. The other three soon followed. They pursued the two Digimon into an alley with a dead end. Before the thieves could get very far, Gatomon leapt into the air and pounced Gaomon to the ground, causing the dog to drop the bread. Gaomon quickly knocked Gatomon off and both it and the Agumon took a fighting stance.

Gatomon quickly got up and took a fighting stance of her own and hissed. As Kari and T.K. caught up, Patamon flew down and landed next to the feline.

"That's far enough, you two." Gatomon told the two thieves. "You better give back that bread, or else!"

"Bring it on, fur ball!" Gaomon dared in a gruff voice. "There's no way a lame cat can beat me!"

"What did you say?" an offended Gatomon responded.

"Now, now." Patamon interrupted. "I'm sure there's a way to resolve this without fighting."

"Yeah! You can leave right now!" the strange Agumon told them. "Otherwise thing are gonna get ugly!"

The standoff was interrupted by a rustling sound coming from deeper inside the alley. Emerging from the darkness was a girl who looked to be about twelve. She had long blonde hair and brown eyes. Her outfit was nothing more than brown rags and her face was dirty.

Kari crouched down to get a closer look at the girl. "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. I'm Kari, and this is my husband, T.K. These two Digimon are our friends."

"You leave her alone!" Agumon warned.

"Calm down!" T.K. told him. "We just want to talk to all of you."

"Do you have a name?" Kari asked the girl. "You can tell us."

The girl looked at Kari for a moment and came a little closer. "My name is… Norn."

"Is that your first name or your last name?" T.K. asked.

"I don't know." Norn answered.

"Do you know where your parents are?" Kari asked. "Where do you come from?"

"Parents?" Norn repeated as if the word was foreign to her. "I… don't know. I don't remember… where I come from."

"I wonder if she's had some kind of accident." T.K. theorized. "Maybe that's why she can't remember anything."

"Okay, so the two of you stole that bread for Norn." Patamon said to Agumon and Gaomon.

"We were only trying to help Norn." Gaomon told him.

"Shut up, Gao!" Agumon told him. "We don't need to say anything to these people!"

"Norn seems to trust them, Agu." The blue dog pointed out. "Maybe it's better if we cooperated."

"Agu? Gao?" Patamon repeated. "Why do you call yourselves that?"

"That's what I call them." Norn explained. "Agu… and Gao."

"How did you meet these two, Norn?" Kari asked. "Did you meet them in the Digital World?"

"The Digital World? What the heck's that?" Agu asked.

"You got me." Gao replied with a shrug.

"Okay, now that's weird." Gatomon declared. "I mean how can these two not know about the Digital World?"

"The Digital World is where Digimon like us come from." Patamon explained to Agu and Gao.

"I've never heard of such a thing!" Agu responded. "The two of us have been with Norn for as long as we can remember."

"What should we do?" Kari asked T.K.

"First we return the bread they stole." T.K. decided.

"Stole?" Norn repeated with a tilt of her head. "What does that mean?"

"Stealing is taking things that don't belong to you." T.K. explained.

"And… that's wrong." Norn quickly deduced.

"You got it." T.K. confirmed. "That's why we need to return what Agu and Gao took."

"And what the heck are the three of us supposed to eat?" Agu demanded to know.

"We can feed you at our place." Patamon offered.

"Yeah, I'm sure we can dig up an old bone or something for Fido." Gatomon assumed with a look of disgust.

"Watch it, you mangy feline!" Gao responded.

"Who're you calling mangy, you mutt?" Gatomon shot back.

"Now, now." Patamon calmly interrupted.

"What do you say Norn, want to come with us?" Kari asked. "Agu and Gao can come too."

"…Okay." Norn finally agreed.

The seven then went back to the shop and returned the loaf of bread to the shopkeeper. The old shopkeeper turned out to be very understanding once he learned of Norn's condition. Once everything was settled, the group began to head back towards the apartment. Norn held onto Kari's hand as they walked.

"So now what?" Kari wondered. "Should we call the police or something? Maybe they could figure out where Norn's parents are."

"I think maybe we should tell the others about this first." Patamon suggested. "It's pretty strange for Agu and Gao not to know anything about the Digital World."

"You know we're right here!" Agu reminded them. "It's pretty rude to talk about someone as if they're not there."

"So you have good manners and yet you're okay with stealing." Gatomon retorted.

"We were only doing what we needed to for Norn to survive!" Agu argued.

Before the argument could get any further, the group suddenly heard a kind of loud buzzing noise approaching them. Norn became freighted and held onto Kari tighter. In moments they saw a group of large mechanical bee-like creatures armored in gold and black metal. Rather than wings, the insects flew with some kind of engines mounted on their shoulders. Their torsos connected to their large abdomens with thin flexible stalks, and on the bottom of their abdomens were small silver laser cannons.

"What are they?" Kari asked.

"I've heard of these Digimon." Gatomon replied. "They're Waspmon!"

"Specimen Norn sighted!" One of the Waspmon spoke in a mechanical voice. "Acquire target! Eliminate all impediments!"

"They're after Norn?" T.K. realized.

"We have to fight them off!" Kari decided.

"No! Stay away!" a frightened Norn cried. "I'm… I'm not going!"

"It's okay, Norn!" Kari assured her. "Calm down!"

Suddenly Norn cried out and glowed with blinding white light. A moment later Agu and Gao's bodies lit up and began to change.

"Agumon digivolve to… GeoGreymon!" Agu cried as he transformed, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name.

"Gaomon digivolve to… Gaogamon!" Gao cried out as he changed along with Agu, his voice deepening as he spoke his other name.

The light from the two Digimon faded and both of them had become much larger. Agu had become the large orange t-rex like creature similar to Greymon, but there were significant differences. His whole body was more muscular and his arms were more developed than a normal Greymon. He had red bands around his wrists and long spikes protruded from his shoulders. On the edges of the brown horned helmet-like mask were short red pointed stripes.

Gao meanwhile was now on all fours and his fur had turned shaggy. His shaggiest fur was the fur on his upper torso. Long black claws had emerged from the boxing gloves on his front paws. Growing from the dog's neck were two long red flexible arms.

"They evolved!" Patamon observed.

"Yeah, but there are too many Waspmon for them to fight alone." Gatomon pointed out.

"Mega Volcano!" Agu roared as he opened his mouth and shot out a massive fireball.

The fireball went towards the part of the Waspmon swarm to the group's left and exploded. The flames subsided and all the Waspmon that had been hit had been completely vaporized. The couple and their two Digimon were stunned.

"Spiral Blow!" Gao roared as he breathed out a vortex of razor sharp wind.

The twister cut the remaining Waspmon to ribbons. The few fragments that remained broke down into particles of data. With the battle over, Agu and Gao regressed back to their Rookie forms. Soon after, Norn fell unconscious.

"Hey! You okay Norn?" Gatomon asked.

"T.K.! We have to get her home!" Kari told him.

"Then we better get moving!" T.K. agreed. "Before any more Digimon come looking for her!"

* * *

Neo Saiba sat in his office with a look of disgust on his face. From the monitor behind his desk, he had seen that the swarm of Waspmon he sent to retrieve Norn had failed. The white-haired young man turned his chair around and put his fingers to his chair. He needed a new plan.

Neo's thoughts were interrupted by a voice from the intercom in his desk. "Mr. Saiba? Mr. Collins has come to see you."

Neo sighed and stood from his chair. "Very well. Send him in."

The door opened and walking in was a handsome-looking man in his mid thirties. He had pale skin and long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. One of his eyes was blue, while the other was green. His outfit was a black suit with a red tie.

"This isn't really a good time, Bram." Neo told the gentlemen.

"Come now, my friend. There's no need to look so down." Bram told him. "By the way, you have quite the fetching young secretary at the desk out there. I hope you don't mind if I steal her away for the evening."

"We lost Norn and the prototypes!" Neo informed him. "We had them in our sights, but then somehow Norn caused the prototypes to evolve. The Waspmon I sent were obliterated."

"There's no need to worry." Bram assured him. "Everything is going according to plan."

"What do you mean everything is going according to plan?" Neo snapped. "Norn and the prototypes escaped!"

"Yes, because I let them." Bram revealed. "We're not going to get what we want by keeping Norn in a lab. Her powers need to grow on their own."

"Are you out of your mind?" Neo asked. "You're risking everything we've worked for these past two months!"

"Relax, Neo." Bram told him. "Believe me when I say that we have Norn right where we want her. T.K. and Kari Takaishi will take good care of her for us. And when the proper time comes, we will be able to take her powers as our own."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Those familiar with _Digimon Next_ probably recognize Norn as one of the more important characters from the manga. Neo Saiba meanwhile is one of the main villains from _V-Tamer 01_. Those familiar with _V-Tamer 01_ can probably figure out which other character from that manga will be appearing in this story.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	2. Nightmares

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 2: Nightmares

Norn remained unconscious when T.K. and Kari brought her to there place. After they placed her in the spare bedroom of the apartment with Agu and Gao, the couple quickly contacted the rest of the Digidestined still in Japan. Davis and Cody were unable to come due to their jobs, but Tai, Matt, Sora, Ken, Yolei, and Izzy came as soon as they could. Once everyone had arrived, T.K. explained what had happened at the market place. Izzy meanwhile used his upgraded Digimon analyzer to find out more about Agu and Gao's evolved forms.

"From what I can tell, both GeoGreymon and Gaogamon appear to be Champion level Digimon." Izzy informed the group as he looked at the data on his laptop. "GeoGreymon seems to be some variation of the normal Greymon that's more adept at combat."

"There's something not quite right about Agu and Gao though." Gatomon interjected. "Those two seemed more like Ulitmate levels from the way they took out that Waspmon swarm."

"You're right, honey." Patamon agreed. "What's even stranger though is that Agu and Gao don't seem to know anything about the Digital World."

"How is that even possible?" Tai's Agumon asked.

"Maybe these two Digimon and Norn were both in the same accident, and that's why they can't remember anything." Tai theorized.

"That does seem possible." Izzy agreed. "It also appears that Agu and Gao are Norn's Digimon partners."

"I know we've seen people with two Digimon before, but Norn doesn't even have a Digivice." Kari pointed out. "I checked and couldn't find one on her, and Agu and Gao don't seem to know anything about it."

"This whole thing is really starting to look strange." Matt remarked.

"What's strange?" a child-like voice suddenly asked. The group looked and saw that Norn had entered the room with Agu and Gao.

"Oh, hi Norn." Kari greeted. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I think so." Norn answered. "I remember something happened when those monsters came for me. I did something to make Agu and Gao change."

"It's because of you that we were able to evolve and protect you." Gao explained.

"Yeah. You should be real proud of yourself Norn." Agu told her.

Norn looked around the room and noticed all the new faces. "Mrs. Kari, are all these people friends of yours?"

"That's right, Norn." Kari confirmed. "Don't worry. No one is going to hurt you."

"Norn? My name's Sora." T.K.'s redheaded sister-in-law spoke. "Are you sure you can't remember anything about where you came from?"

"…The first thing I remember is waking up in an alley with Agu and Gao." Norn answered after a moment. "I'm not sure how long ago that was."

"I don't like this." Yolei commented. "Maybe we should call the police."

"I'm not sure there's much they can do if there are Digimon after her." Ken pointed out. "The way things are, Norn and her two friends are probably a lot safer with us."

As the Digidestined and their Digimon continued to discuss what to do, Norn noticed a paper peaking out the top of Izzy's tattered brown book bag lying next to the couch. Out of curiosity, the girl quietly went over and pulled it out. Written on the front of the paper was a long and complicated mathematical equation.

"What's this?" Norn asked, getting Izzy's attention.

"Oh, that's a copy of a mathematical formula that a friend of mine in Canada dared my to solve." Izzy explained. "I had accidently printed out two copies of it. You're welcome to have it. I was just going to throw it out anyway."

"Here Norn, let me get you a pencil." Kari offered, assuming that the girl was going to draw on the back of the paper.

As soon as Norn was given her pencil, the rest of the group went back to talking. Norn looked at the front of the paper for a few seconds before completing the equation.

Her work finished, Norn tapped Izzy on the leg to get his attention. "I'm done."

"Done with what?" Izzy asked.

"I solved the problem." Norn answered.

"Impossible." Izzy told her as he took the paper. "That equation is way too…." The brown-haired genius' eyes widened as he looked at the page. "No way!"

"What is it, Izzy?" asked the purple beetle-like Digimon that was Izzy's partner, Tentomon.

"This equation… Norn actually solved it!" Izzy explained. "This is very high level math. Way too advanced for someone Norn's age."

"And you're saying she got it right?" Tai asked.

"See for yourselves." Izzy replied as he passed the paper around for the others to view.

The rest of the group looked at the paper and were all surprised at how complex the equation looked. As it was a math problem that was far too complex for them, the others simply decided to take Izzy's word that Norn had solved it correctly.

"So… you're saying that Norn is incredibly smart." Yolei assumed.

"It took at least a week for me to figure out the right answer to that equation." Izzy revealed. "And Norn solved in less than ten seconds."

"Did I do something wrong?" Norn asked.

"Of course not, Norn." Kari assured her. "You just… surprised us. That's all."

Things were interrupted by a sudden knock at the door, which T.K. got up to answer. Standing on the other side of the door was a scrawny-looking young man with red hair wearing thick round glasses. He had on a green polo shirt with a tan jacket and grey slacks. With him was a floating dark-grey gear with a face and golden cogs around its outer edge. It also had a pair of smaller silver gears for hands. The young man was Jason Swift, the genius member of the American Digidestined group known as Team Excalibur. And the mechanical Digimon with him was his partner, Hagurumon.

"Hi T.K." Jason greeted. "Hope you don't mind Hagurumon and I dropping by."

"Not at all." T.K. replied. "Come on in."

"The reason I'm here is because I think I left a flash drive of mine behind when I and the rest of the team came for your brother's wedding." Jason explained as he and Hagurumon entered. He looked and noticed Norn, Agu, and Gao. "Who's the girl?"

"That's sort of what we're trying to figure out right now." T.K. explained. "All we really know at the moment is that her name is Norn and she's apparently pretty smart."

"How smart?" Jason asked.

"Smart enough to solve this." Matt answered as he went over and handed the paper with the equation to Jason.

Jason adjusted his glasses as he calmly examined the page. "Huh… yeah, she got it right. How long did it take her to solve it?"

"About ten seconds, we think." Izzy answered.

"Wow. You have one smart girl on your hands." Jason remarked.

"Hey! How come all of you assumed that Norn is dumb?" an offended Agu asked.

"Nobody thought she was dumb." Agumon assured his fellow lizard. "But that math problem is too complex for a normal human girl Norn's age to solve."

"I'm… not normal?" Norn asked with a tilt of her head.

"Hey, how 'bout I help you get clean up?" Kari suggested to the girl in attempt to change the subject. "I'm sure you must feel pretty dirty after having to live on the street for so long."

"…Okay." Norn finally agreed.

With that, Kari guided Norn back to the bathroom. Agu and Gao followed close behind.

"So where did you find this girl?" Jason asked.

"Kari and I ran into her and those two Digimon this morning when we were shopping." T.K. explained.

"Boy, you sure can find some interesting things on a shopping trip." Hagurumon remarked. "I remember this one time when I went with Jason and his girlfriend to the mall. It was a Sunday. I remember that because Jason's favorite science program was on PBS that morning. Anyway, we got to the mall and the first thing I saw was…"

"Hagurumon, you mind telling this story another time?" Jason interrupted.

"Oh, sure." Hagurumon responded.

"So anyway, Norn doesn't seem to have any memory of where she comes from." T.K. continued. "And for some reason, a bunch of Digimon wanted to capture her."

Jason put his hand to his chin. "Hmm… you know there might be a way to solve at least part of this puzzle. Is anyone here familiar with the Saiba Corporation?"

"I am." Tai answered. "They used to be just a software company. But after the Digital World became more open, they started developing technology to study Digimon."

"They still produce some pretty high end software too." Jason added. "In fact they recently came out with something called the Genome Database."

"I read an article about that a few weeks ago." Izzy recalled. "It's a database designed to catalogue the genetic codes of every human on the planet."

"The database has a lot of potential applications." Jason continued. "One of which is helping a kid find his or her long lost parents. So far a lot of the world governments are pretty much shunning the database because they think it could be a violation of human rights. But at the moment, the DNA of just about everyone living in Japan is on file in it. It might be a long shot, but if Norn's family lives around here, the database should be able to help track them down."

"A prodigious idea, Jason." Izzy praised. "I'm a little surprised I didn't think of it."

"So how do we do this search?" T.K. asked.

"Well I'll need to get the right software and a certain piece of equipment." Jason answered. "It'll probably take a day at the most."

"I'd be more than happy to assist you with that." Izzy offered.

"I'd like that." Jason agreed. "We better get started on this."

* * *

_Kari found herself standing alone on a beach under a dreary grey sky that cast everything in twilight. Everything around her was grey except for the water. The water of the ocean before her was pitch-black. The air was filled with the scent of salt and dead fish. Kari's heart began to race in fear, for she new exactly where she was. She was back at the Dark Ocean._

_Suddenly she heard a horrid croaking noise echoing from further down the beach. It was a sound that Kari had prayed that she'd never hear again. It was the sound of those horrible fish-frog things that lived in that grey hell. She began to run away from the sound as fast as her legs could carry her. Though she knew that there were very few places that she could hide from those things on that wretched beach. Suddenly one of the shadowy amphibians jumped out at her from the water. Kari froze as the thing starred at her with its glassy sunken eyes. The creature croaked as lunged at Kari to pin her to the ground._

* * *

Kari shot up in bed with a scream, cold sweat dripping from her brow. As she caught her breath, she was relieved to find that she was still in her and T.K.'s room. It was only another nightmare of that time. The nightmares had become less frequent as time had passed. Yet there were still some nights when Kari would have them, usually when she was alone. Kari looked at the other side of the bed and saw that T.K. was gone. She remembered that he was attending a night class and would be back until very late.

Glancing at the clock, Kari saw that it was only 1:46 AM. Yet it seemed that sleep was out of the question at the moment. She knew that there was no way she was going to be able to go back to sleep after another nightmare like that. Quietly, Kari got out of the bed and headed for the living room. On her way there, she passed by an open closet that contained the basket of a sleeping Patamon and Gatomon. She took great care not to wake them.

Once she reached the couch and sat down, Kari took a book that was sitting on the corner of the coffee table. At the very least, it seemed that she would catch up on some reading.

"Mrs. Kari?" a voice quietly spoke. Kari looked up from her book and saw Norn standing right in front of her.

"Oh, Norn. What're you doing up?" Kari asked.

"I couldn't sleep." Norn explained. "I had a scary dream."

"Wanna tell me about it?" Kari asked. "Sometimes talking about bad dreams helps them go away."

"Did you have a scary dream too?" Norn asked.

"Uh… I did, actually." Kari admitted.

"Would telling me about it help make it go away?" Norn asked.

Kari had to admit that her own advice sounded pretty good. The other times when she had nightmares about the Dark Ocean, she would tell T.K., or sometimes Gatomon or even Patamon. She was hesitant to tell Norn, as the girl seemed to have a lot of her own problems. Yet Kari also had to admit that she had also just found a good opportunity to let Norn open up to her.

"Okay, get up here." Kari requested.

Norn got on the couch and sat next to Kari. The girl surprised Kari a little by cuddling up to her. Kari responded by putting an arm around her.

"I was back at this really bad place where I was forced to be a few months ago. This beach at a place called the Dark Ocean." Kari began. "The monsters that lived there started to come after me."

"What did they want to do to you?" Norn asked.

"…Really bad things." Kari answered. "In my dream, one of the monsters jumped out of the water to attack me. That's when I woke up."

"Are those monsters going to try and hurt you again?" Norn asked.

"…No. No, they can't get to me anymore." Kari answered. "Okay, your turn. What happened in your dream?"

"It's kind of fuzzy." Norn answered. "But I remember that there were all these monsters that wanted to hurt me."

"Monsters like the one from this morning?" Kari asked.

"No… these were different." Norn replied. "There were seven of the monsters that really seemed to hate me. I think one of them had a… beautiful-looking face. It was that monster that attacked me. That's when I woke up."

"Well don't worry. Those monsters can't come after you here." Kari assured her. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you. You're safe."

After this, Norn slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep. As she looked at the young girl that was sleeping next to her, Kari realized how sweet and innocent Norn seemed. She couldn't imagine why anyone would want to hurt her. Kari found herself feeling more relaxed than before, and before she knew it she had dozed off.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope that was a cute enough way to end the chapter. This is actually my first time writing a story quite like this, so I hope everyone will bare with me. There will be a bit more action in the next chapter.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	3. The Mystery Deepens

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 3: The Mystery Deepens

Kari gently awoke on the couch to find that a green blanket had been wrapped around her. Feeling something warm pressed against her, she looked down and saw that Norn was still sound asleep. It took Kari a moment to recall exactly what had happened the night before. She looked back up at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 10:34 AM. At that moment, T.K. walked in carrying a cup of coffee in each hand.

"Good morning." T.K. quietly greeted as he sat on the couch and handed Kari her usual pink cup.

"Hey." Kari softly greeted back as she took the cup. "Did you just get up?"

"Yeah." T.K. confirmed. "I sure am going to be glad when I don't have to take that night class anymore."

"You and me both." Kari agreed.

"So how are you doing?" T.K. asked with a concerned look.

"I had another nightmare." Kari admitted. "Norn did too. But somehow we helped each other get back to sleep."

"She sure looks peaceful right now." T.K. remarked.

"Yeah, but… I somehow get the feeling that she's been through something terrible in the past." Kari told him. "I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Norn doesn't remember anything about her past."

"Well hopefully Izzy and Jason will be able to get what we need to help figure some of this mess out today." T.K. replied.

"Yeah, but I'd like to do something more than that for Norn." Kari told him. "It is Sunday, so I think all of us should go out and do something fun."

"You know there is that traveling carnival that's in town today." T.K. recalled. "Maybe Norn would like going there."

At that moment, Agu ran into the room with Gao following close behind. "There you are, Norn! We thought something might've happened to you."

"Quiet down, you two." T.K. ordered as quietly as he could. "Norn's still asleep."

"Relax, it'll take more than Agu roaring his head off to wake her." Gao informed them. "One night we had no choice but to sleep near the train tracks. The noise kept Agu and I up all night, but Norn never woke up once."

"Well even if that's true, there are still a couple of other people in this apartment who like to sleep in on a Sunday." Kari informed the two Digimon.

As if on cue, Gatomon walked into the room with a very displeased expression on her face. Patamon followed behind her with his eyes still half closed.

"What the hell are you two idiots doing tearing up the place this early in the morning?" Gatomon asked Agu and Gao.

"Sorry, we didn't mean to interrupt your beauty sleep." Gao informed her. "Though I don't think that there's enough sleep in the world to make a cat like you look good."

Gatomon hissed. "You wanna start something fleabag?"

"Honey, just let it go." Patamon told her as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Before a fight could break out, Norn suddenly stirred and sat up. After rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she blinked and looked around. "Oh. Good morning everyone."

"Good morning, Norn." T.K. greeted. "I hope we didn't wake you."

"No. I woke up by myself." Norn assured him. "Is something going on?"

"Well, we were sort of talking about all of us going to a carnival today." Kari answered.

"What's a carnival?" Norn asked.

"It's a place with a lot of rides, games, and people." T.K. explained. "They're actually pretty fun."

"So what do you say Norn? Wanna go?" Kari asked.

"…Okay." Norn agreed after a moment.

* * *

Neo walked into the lab at the Saiba Corporation building wearing his white lab coat. The time had come to make another attempt for Norn. As Neo fired up some of the machines in the lab, the door opened and Bram walked in.

"I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up." Neo told him. "You know my secretary didn't show up for work this morning. I trust you have something to do with it."

"We had a wonderful evening last night." Bram replied. "But don't worry, my friend. She'll be back at her post tomorrow."

"I suppose it doesn't really matter." Neo told him. "Besides, right now we have business to attend to."

"So you're getting another swarm ready to retrieve Norn." Bram deduced.

"With one little addition." Neo revealed.

After Neo pressed a few buttons on a control panel mounted on the wall, a swirling vortex of color opened up in the middle of the room. Walking out of the vortex was a humanoid creature clad completely in gold armor covered in black stripes like a bee. His head resembled that of an insect. Tied around the being's neck was a tattered red scarf.

As the vortex closed, the creature walked up to Neo and kneeled. "I am at your service, Lord Neo."

"Bram V. Collins, allow me to introduce one of the strongest Digimon in my arsenal." Neo spoke. "TigerVespamon."

"So, you got one of your Waspmon to evolve to the Mega level, I see." Bram observed.

"Its combat skills are quite high." Neo replied. "The prototypes shouldn't be able to interfere with the retrieval this time."

"You forget that Norn is in the company of two of the strongest members of the Digidestined." Bram reminded him.

"Which probably wouldn't have happened if you hadn't let Norn escape in the first place." Neo pointed out.

"Not to worry, Neo. Everything is going according to plan." Bram assured him. "I knew it would come to this, which is why I've prepared an enforcer of my own."

Bram snapped his fingers and another vortex opened up in the center of the lab. Only this one was a swirling blood red. Emerging from the portal was a seven-foot tall humanoid being clad completely in black and gold samurai armor. Its head it resembled that of a dinosaur or a dragon with two horns on the sides of its head and a smaller horn on the top of its snout.

"This is one of my strongest warrior, Gaiomon." Bram introduced.

"I have come as order, my lord." Gaiomon spoke as he kneeled before Bram.

"It looks to be a member of the Greymon family." Neo observed. "How did you get such a powerful Digimon to work for you?"

"I found Gaiomon during one of my little expeditions to the Digital World." Bram explained. "He agreed to help me in exchange for freeing him from his prison."

"With all due respect, Lord Neo. I do not require any assistants in completing the mission." TigerVespamon spoke.

"You seem to have a high opinion of yourself, insect." Gaiomon noted. "You should be honored that a warrior such as myself is helping you."

"Enough of this!" Neo ordered. "TigerVespamon, you have your orders. Gaiomon will assist you in obtaining Norn and the prototypes."

"As you wish, Lord Neo." TigerVespamon replied.

"So we are to retrieve a girl." Gaiomon spoke. "This task should be easy."

* * *

T.K. and Kari arrived with Norn and their four Digimon at the carnival. Norn had dressed up in a white shirt with a pink cartoon rabbit on the front with a purple jacket and pine-green skirt. Though small, the entire carnival was bustling with activity. Norn looked around in amazement as she took everything in.

"You stick close to us Norn, okay?" Kari told her.

"Okay." Norn replied.

The group walked down one of the alleys that were lined with game booths off all kinds. One of the booths they came near contained the old game of stacked bottles that one had to knock down in order to win. The man running the booth had greased black hair and wore a yellow vest and was doing his best to promote his game.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry!" the booth operator called. "Step right up! Knock all the bottles down and win a prize!"

As the man in the booth did his routine, Norn's eyes fixed on one of the prizes the booth offered. It was a light-blue and white teddy bear with a pink heart on the front of its white stomach.

T.K. glanced down and saw Norn was looking at something. "See something you like?"

"That bear looks cute." Norn answered.

"If you want, I can try to win it for you." T.K. offered. "Would you like that?"

"Uh-huh." Norn answered.

"Hey Mister, don't waste your time tryin' to win that bear." A voice interrupted. The group looked and saw a ten-year-old boy wearing a red ball cap and a green t-shirt. "That guy's game is rigged. I came here early this morning and saw him gluing those bottles together."

"Did you tell anyone about this?" Kari asked.

"Course I did!" the kid answered. "But no one believes me."

"I see…" T.K. replied. "Hey Patamon, mind giving me a hand with this?"

"Sure T.K." Patamon agreed. The two went up to the booth while the others waited behind.

"Well young man, care to try your luck?" the booth attendant asked.

"Sure." T.K. answered as he placed some money on the counter. "Just so we're clear though, anything goes as long as I knock down all the bottles, right?"

"Right you are, young man!" the man confirmed. "Go ahead and test your strength!"

T.K. took the ball given to him and raised his arm as if he was about to throw it. But after a moment, he lowered his arm. "Now Patamon!"

Patamon flew off the top of T.K.'s head as his body expanded. "Boom Bubble!"

Patamon opened his mouth and shot out a large ball of air. The booth operator ducked and the projectile hit the bottles, knocking them down and blowing a hole in the rear wall of the booth at the same time. When the dust settled, the bottles had indeed been knocked down. But they were also stuck together as if they were still stacked. Dropping down from the ceiling to land on the counter of the booth was a small can of industrial strength adhesive. By that time, the small explosion from Patamon's attack had gotten the attention of several people.

"See! I told everyone that guy's game was rigged!" the kid in the cap pointed out.

The booth attendant began to panic as several of his former customers began to gather around to try and get their money back. T.K. took the opportunity and quickly grabbed the bear.

"Here you go, Norn." T.K. spoke as he handed her the bear.

"Thank you." Norn replied as she gladly took the stuffed toy.

"Wow! That was actually pretty cool." Agu remarked. "And Patamon's attack really packed a punch."

"That's my Patamon for you." Gatomon spoke with a look of pride.

"Hey T.K., maybe we should try going on one of the rides now." Kari suggested. "This part of the carnival is starting to get a little nuts."

Before T.K. could respond, the air suddenly became filled with a familiar buzzing sound. The other carnival patrons fell silent as they heard the noise too. A frightened Norn began to hold onto her new bear even tighter. In moments the air became filled with Waspmon, and the swarm was twice as large as the one from the day before. The rest of the people at the carnival began to flee upon seeing the swarm.

Suddenly TigerVespamon dropped down from the sky and approached T.K. and the others. In each hand he carried a gold sword with a large blade made of blue energy.

"I am TigerVespamon." The insect warrior told T.K. and Kari in a buzzing voice. "Hand over the girl and the two Digimon with her, or I will be forced to eliminate you."

"You're not getting Norn!" T.K. told him. "Kari, it looks like we're going to have to fight. You up for that?"

Kari nodded to T.K. before turning to Agu and Gao. "You two stay here and protect Norn!"

"You don't need to tell us that!" Agu informed her.

"Let's do it!" T.K. and Kari said together.

Patamon and Gatomon both nodded and the D-3s of their human partners let out a mechanized cry of one word. "BIOMERGE!"

T.K. and Kari turned into balls of gold and pink light and entered their respective Digimon partners. Both Digimon began to glow as they transformed.

"Patamon, biomerge digivolve to… Seraphimon!" Patamon cried, his voice changing as he spoke his other name.

"Gatomon, biomerge digivolve to… Ophanimon!" Gatomon cried, her voice changing with the utterance of her other name.

The lights faded and Patamon had changed into a humanoid figure completely clad in shining silver armor. His face was completely covered by a helmet with a gold cross on the front, a pair of gold wings on the sides, and a gold blade on top that somewhat resembled a Mohawk. A gold breechcloth with words written in the language of the Digital World upon it hung down in front of his legs. On his back were ten gold wings that shined with a brilliant light.

Gatomon meanwhile had become a woman clad in blue-green and silver armor similar to Seraphimon's. Her helmet had the same golden cross on the front as Seraphimon's and revealed her mouth and her long flowing strawberry blond hair. The front part of the armor revealed Ophanimon's bare stomach, and instead of normal leg armor she had a white shimmering skirt that was covered in the regular blue-green armor above the knees. On her feet she wore elegant high-heeled shoes the same color as her armor, and on her back were eight shining golden wings. In her right hand, Ophonimon carried an ornate golden javelin, and in her left hand a shield with a golden horse head emblazoned on the front.

"Angel Digimon." TigerVespamon observed. "And Mega level ones at that. It seems my commander was correct in sending Gaiomon on me with this mission."

"Glad you finally approve, insect." Gaiomon spoke as he walked towards them from Seraphimon's left. In each hand he carried a strange jagged katana. "Angels, eh? They should make worthy opponents."

"What do we do?" Ophanimon asked.

"I'll handle Gaiomon." Seraphimon decided. "You take care of TigerVespamon."

"Okay." The female angel agreed. "Be careful."

"You too." Seraphimon told her before flying towards Gaiomon.

With a wave of his arm, a sword blade extended from the armor on Seraphimon's wrist. Just as the angel began to swing down his blade, Gaiomon raised his two swords to block. But as the swords moved, the blades left behind strange tracks of light. Rather than making contact with the swords, Seraphimon's blade struck the light tracks as if they were solid objects.

"What?" Seraphimon exclaimed.

"My blades are not normal swords." Gaiomon explained. "Even their trails can cut through anything that gets in their path. Let's see if you can get past them!"

With that, Gaiomon began to slash wildly at Seraphimon and created a mass of razor sharp light tracks, forcing the angelic warrior to fall back. Ophanimon meanwhile shot blades of golden light at TigerVespamon. But the insect warrior's speed allowed him to dodge every shot. As soon as he was in range, TigerVespamon began swinging his swords at high speed. It was taking everything Ophanimon had to evade.

Meanwhile, Norn, Agu, and Gao were still surrounded by the Waspmon swarm. As the mechanical insects advanced, Norn cried out in terror and shined with a blinding white light. And instant later, Agu and Gao began to glow.

"Agumon digivolve to… GeoGreymon!" Agu cried as he transformed into the orange dinosaur-like creature.

"Gaomon digivolve to… Gaogamon!" Gao cried as he changed into his giant dog form.

After a moment, Norn opened the eyes she had shut in terror and saw her two transformed friends. "Agu? Gao?"

"Don't worry, Norn. We will protect you." Agu assured her.

"Nothing will happen to you as long as we're here." Gao added.

"Mega Volcano!" Agu roared as he shot forth a massive fireball that took out a good chunk of the swarm.

One of the Waspmon survived the attack and flew towards them. Agu charged at the metal insect and struck it with his horns, tossing it into the air. As the Waspmon came back down, Agu struck it again with its horns and caused it to explode. Meanwhile Gao breathed out another swirling blast of razor sharp wind and took out another part of the swarm. A surviving Waspmon flew towards him and fired shots from its laser. Gao ran threw the attack and slashed with the flexible arms at his neck to send an X-shaped blast of energy at the insect. The Waspmon exploded upon being hit by the attack.

Not far away, Seraphimon continued to struggle against Gaiomon's relentless attacks. The angel Digimon raised his arms forward and shot a cluster of seven gold fireballs at the dark samurai. But the attack was simply cut apart by the trails left by Gaiomon's blades.

"I was expecting more from a powerful angel like you." Gaiomon told him. "I think it's time we end this. Die!"

Just Gaiomon was about to charge, a cut of white light formed on his left side. The evil samurai dropped down to one knee. Both Gaiomon and Seraphimon looked to see what had caused the damage. What they both saw standing behind Gaiomon was a large knight clad in ancient-looking silver and gold armor. On his back was a pair of folded armored wings and a tattered white cape with a blue underside. In his right hand, the knight carried a sword made of white light.

"If Seraphimon bores you as an opponent, then cross swords with me, foul one!" the knight dared Gaiomon.

"Who are you?" Gaiomon demanded to know.

"Alphamon?" Seraphimon identified.

Meanwhile, Ophanimon continued to fight against TigerVespamon. The insect warrior managed to corner the female angel. But just as he raised his right sword to attack, a fast moving object struck him hard in the back of the head and nearly knocked him off his feet. Both combatants looked and saw a woman with long silver hair clad almost completely in black armor. A pink and gold helmet covered the top half of her face, and her chest and waist were covered in pink armor as well. Dangling from the armor around her waist were several sword blades that formed a kind of skirt. She wore a pink cape on her back, and in her left hand she carried a long staff with a black mallet above a red gemstone that was above a gold heart.

"QueenChessmon?" a surprised Ophanimon identified.

"You looked like you could use a hand." QueenChessmon spoke.

"You will regret your interference!" TigerVespamon declared. But before he could attack, he was struck in the side by a blast of green energy.

The one who fired the blast was a man clad in black cybernetic armor that showed only the chalk-white skin around his mouth. On each shoulder was something that looked like a dinosaur mask, with the mask on the left shoulder being red and remaining one being blue. Ohpanimon recognized this warrior as Haugumon's Mega form, HiAndromon.

"It seems you didn't count on reinforcements." HiAndromon told the insect warrior. "The odds are no longer in your favor."

Meanwhile, Agu and Gao continued to fight off what remained of the swarm. Suddenly a large golden beetle with massive horns flew down and took out much of the Waspmon with a blast of purple electricity.

"So another one wants to fight, huh?" Agu assumed.

"Wait, you hothead! That thing just took out most of the Waspmon, which means it's on our side!" Gao pointed out. "Besides, look who's riding the thing."

Agu looked and saw that Izzy was riding on the insect that was Tentomon's Mega form, HerculesKabuterimon. The golden beetle flew around and took out the last remaining members of the swarm.

"We can no longer win this battle. Gaiomon, we must retreat!" TigerVespamon dediced before vanishing in a flash.

Gaiomon glared at Alphamon and growled. "I will make you pay for this!"

"You're welcome to try." Alphamon dared.

Gaimon then got back to his feet and vanished. With the battle over, Alphamon split into two individuals. One was a handsome-looking young man with dark hair and glasses, wearing a tweed jacket with a red vest, white shirt, and black slacks. The other was a small dragon-like Digimon covered in blue and white fur. It had a fox like tail and a red gem embedded in its forehead. Seraphimon and T.K. recognized the young man as Arthur Pierce, the leader of Team Excalibur. And the Digimon was his partner, Dorumon.

"Hello T.K." Arthur greeted as Seraphimon split back into T.K. and Patamon. "Seems we made it here just in time."

Meanwhile as Ophanimon split back into Kari and Gatomon, Queen Chessmon split into two as well. One of the individuals was a young woman with blonde hair wearing a white shirt with a red blazer and skirt. The other was a small knight-like Digimon clad in black armor with a gold visor. In his hand, the small knight carried a gold spear. The woman was Gwen Whitmore, the second in command of Team Excalibur. And the knight was her partner, PawnChessmon.

"Hi Kari." Gewn greeted. "You're looking pretty well."

"Uh, hi Gwen." A somewhat surprised Kari greeted back.

As HiAndromon split back into Jason and Hagurumon, the remaining Digimon reverted back to their Rookie forms. Norn quickly went back over to Kari and grabbed her hand.

"It's okay now, Norn." Kari assured her. "These people are more friends of mine."

Suddenly Dorumon trotted over to Norn and affectionately rubbed his head against her leg. Norn smiled and petted the dragon on his head.

"Remarkable." Arthur declared. "I've never seen Dorumon take like that to anyone before. He even bit me the first time we met."

"You know now that I think about it, Dorumon always has been a good judge of character." Gwen remarked.

"And just what is that supposed to mean, Guinevere?" Arthur asked as his left eye began to twitch.

"Now that I think about it, Dorumon did bite Davis on the butt once." Kari recalled with a teasing smirk.

"Not that we aren't happy to see you Arthur, but what are you and Gwen doing here?" T.K. interrupted.

"That's my doing, T.K." Jason answered. "The piece of tech Izzy and I need to help find Norn's parents was a little out of my price range, so I called Arthur to help pay the bill."

"Guinevere and I were on my family's jet when Jason reached me." Arthur continued. "As your current predicament seemed serious, we flew straight here."

"You couldn't have dropped me off somewhere first." An annoyed Gwen pointed out as she tapped her foot.

"Come now, Guinevere. If you hadn't intervened, Kari and Gatomon would probably be dead right now." Arthur pointed out.

"He's probably right, my queen." PawnChessmon agreed.

"Stay out of this, Pawn." Gwen ordered.

"In any case, we now have everything set up at my place to try and find Norn's parents." Izzy interrupted.

"Then I guess we better get going." T.K. decided.

* * *

Gaiomon and TigerVespamon returned to the lab to find Neo and Bram waiting for them. Bram was sitting in a chair sipping a glass of what looked to be red wine while Neo stood in front of a large computer screen.

"Lord Neo, we regret to inform you that we were unable to retrieve the target." TigerVespamon reported.

"I'm well aware of your failure." Neo told him. "Bram and I saw the whole battle from here."

"Yes, but there's no need to worry." Bram added. "Believe it or not, things are going exactly as I planned. Norn's powers are slowly awakening."

"Things do seem to be going better than they would have in the lab." Neo admitted. "But I still don't know why we're simply leaving Norn and the prototypes in the hands of those Digidestined."

"Trust me, my friend. It will all become clear soon." Bram assured him.

* * *

T.K. and the others had arrived at Izzy's apartment. It always amazed T.K. and Kari how much computer equipment filled the place. They both secretly expected to some day come to the apartment to find it filled to the brim with wires. Jason sat at the couch typing into a laptop connected to a black rectangular box-like device connected by five red and yellow wires.

"Okay, the software finished installing." Jason informed the others. "We're ready to give this a try. But in order to do this, Norn's going to have to give a blood sample into the machine."

"My blood?" Norn repeated.

"It's just a little pin prick." Jason assured her. "It'll only take a second."

"Hold on just a dang minute!" Agu protested. "I'm starting not to like this idea. Why does Norn have to hurt herself?"

"There's no other way to do this." Gatomon told him. "Besides, it's not going to be that bad."

"It's okay Norn." Kari assured her. "T.K. and I will be with you the whole time."

Hesitantly, Norn approached the device and put her right index finger into a small port Jason pointed her to. After feeling a sharp jab to her fingertip, Norn yelped and pulled her hand back. Patamon and Gatomon had to hold Agu and Gao back from attacking the device.

"You did really good, Norn." Kari told her as she tended to the girl's finger.

"Okay, now we have the DNA sample." Jason spoke as he tapped a few things into laptop. "Now we just have to set the search program to find a parental match living in the area."

"How long will this take?" T.K. asked.

"Probably a few hours, that is if Norn's parents are living here in the country." Jason answered. "Otherwise we'll have to expand…" Suddenly the laptop began to beep. Jason looked at the screen and raised an eyebrow. "Huh… that's weird."

"Did you find a match already?" Arthur asked.

Izzy looked at the screen from behind the couch and his eyes widened. "Th-that's… impossible!"

"Why? What is it?" Kari asked.

Jason and Izzy looked at each other for a moment before turning the laptop to face T.K. and Kari. The screen showed their pictures over a green box with the word "match" written inside it.

"What's this mean?" T.K. asked.

"Well according to the Genome Database, Norn shares familial DNA with Takeru and Kari Takaishi." Jason answered. "Genetically at least… Norn is your daughter."

* * *

**Author's Note:** And we'll leave off there. I'm sure many of you reading right now are going, "huh?" Or at least that's my hope. Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter.

In the meantime, please review and let me know what you think.


	4. The Saiba Family

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 4: The Saiba Family

Kari and T.K. were still reeling from the news that Norn was somehow their daughter. Izzy and Jason had checked and rechecked the results to make sure there was no error. But every check they ran seemed to indicate that there was no mistake. After this surprising little revelation, Arthur had called Tai, Matt, and Sora and had asked them to come over. As soon as the three had arrived, Gwen and PawnChessmon took Norn and her two Digimon into the other room so that everyone else could have a serious talk. Needless to say, Tai, Matt, and Sora were just as shocked as everyone else.

"So T.K., are you sure there's not something you and Kari would like to tell us?" Tai asked as his left eye twitched a bit.

"For crying out loud, Tai! I'm as shocked about this as you are!" T.K. told him.

"Tai, there's no way I could've kept everyone from knowing if I was pregnant!" Kari pointed out.

"She's right about that, Tai." Sora calmly agreed as she gently patted her own bulging stomach. "After awhile that kind of thing is impossible to hide."

"Tai, you do realize that Norn appears to be about twelve years old." Izzy pointed out. "Which means Kari would've had to have given birth to her…"

"Okay, okay. You're right." Tai relented as he sat down in the nearest chair he could find. "Sorry I reacted like that. It's been a long day at the office."

"Izzy, are you and Jason sure that there wasn't some kind of computer error?" Matt asked.

"We rechecked everything about ten times now." Jason answered. "As far as we can tell, there's been no error."

"Perhaps we've all been looking at this the wrong way." Arthur suggested. "Look at what we know about Ms. Norn. She has two Digimon partners, yet know Digivice. And while she has no memory of her past and seems to lack knowledge about the world, she able to solve in second mathematical problems that would take normal scholars weeks if not months to solve. Given all this information, I'm starting to think that Norn is not a normal human being."

"Then what is she?" Patamon asked.

"Maybe she's a being like Gennai." Jason suggested. "You know, some kind of digital life form that's similar to a human."

"A good theory. But then how is it that she has T.K. and Kari's DNA?" Arthur pointed out.

"What if someone just wants us to think that Norn is T.K. and Kari's daughter?" Matt theorized.

"That would require someone to tamper with Genome Database." Izzy pointed out. "And the only one I can see with the skills to do that would have to be someone at the Saiba Corporation."

"Well then, what do we know about the Saiba Corporation?" Arthur asked.

"From what I've read, it started out as a simple software company in 1987." Jason began. "It took off in Japan fairly quickly. Then after the untimely death of its founder, Koichi Saiba, the company was taken over by his son Neo. He was only fourteen at the time."

"A company run by a fourteen-year-old?" a surprised Sora asked.

"He was something of a child prodigy." Jason explained. "One story I heard is that he built his first computer at age nine. It's because of Neo that Saiba Corp is currently the third largest software company in the world. Anyway, Saiba Corp has recently become one of the major companies that's doing research on the Digital World."

"What kind of research?" Kari asked.

"That I couldn't tell you." Jason answered.

"Then I think it's time we started looking into the Saiba Corporation's activities." Arthur decided. "Jason, how long will it take you and Izzy to hack into their computers?"

"Probably a few days at most." Jason answered.

"Indeed. The Saiba Corporation's firewalls are probably going to be hard to crack." Izzy agreed.

"Then I guess we'll let you guys work on that and the rest of us can go home." Tai decided.

"I'll go get Norn." Kari told them.

Moments later Kari was in the next room where Norn and Gwen seemed to be playing some kind of card game. Gao and Agu meanwhile seemed to be having some kind of argument.

Gwen looked up and saw Kari standing in the doorway. "So, I assume the rest of you are done talking."

"Arthur can fill you in on the rest later." Kari replied. "Norn? We're going home now."

"Okay mom." Norn replied.

Kari felt a wave of emotion when she heard Norn call her mom. "Uh, yeah. So go get Agu and Gao and we'll be leaving in just a minute."

An hour or so later, T.K. and Kari had returned to their apartment with Norn. Norn had gone to bed soon after. After she had gotten ready for bed herself, Kari stood in the doorway to Norn's room. The girl was fast asleep, holding the teddy bear that T.K. had gotten for her that day. Agu and Gao meanwhile were both asleep in a corner of the room.

"Hey." T.K. called from behind, slightly startling Kari. "You coming to bed?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." Kari assured him. "…She called me mom, T.K. It… it actually felt pretty good."

"I guess Norn would have every reason to think of you has her mother." T.K. replied. "And not just because of what happened today. You really seem to have a way with her."

"T.K., I don't care who Norn is or where she came from. I want her to stay with us." Kari told him. "Ever since Norn got here, our lives have been different."

"I know what you mean." T.K. agreed. "I don't know how all this is going to end, but I'd like her to stay with us too."

Kari and T.K. kissed for a moment. After they finally broke apart, the couple headed back to their room. They both needed their rest after such an eventful day.

* * *

It was 6:30 AM as Tai walked into the convenience store down the street from where his apartment was. He had realized only this morning that he had forgotten to get more orange juice the night before. There was much on Tai's mind that morning as he made his way to the juice isle, and it wasn't just the confusion issue of Norn's origins. As happy as Tai was for both Matt and Sora, it still seemed like he wasn't completely over how his own romantic relationship with Sora had failed. Sora reminding everyone of her pregnancy to make a point the night before seemed to remind Tai of what might've been but could no longer be.

"Excuse me." A female voice spoke from behind as Tai looked for the right brand of juice. "You think you could do me a favor and grab me a bottle of grape juice from the next shelf over?"

Tai glanced and saw that the grape juice was on a shelf that was easily accessible. "You too weak to grab it yourself?"

"Are you trying to be funny?" the woman asked in an offended tone.

Tai turned around to say something only to find that the woman was in a wheelchair. She was a young woman who had short reddish-brown hair and wore a white short-sleeved buttoned up shirt with a black skirt. Tai saw that the young lady was quite attractive, though he noticed this only in passing.

"Oh… uh, sorry." Tai told the young woman as he grabbed the juice bottle she requested. "I guess I just didn't see you there. Looks like I really stuck my foot in my mouth, huh?"

"Don't worry about." The young woman assured him. "It's not like you have eyes in the back of your head. Plus you looked like you were in pretty deep thought."

"Yeah, I've got a lot going on I guess." Tai admitted.

"I'm Rei, by the way." The young woman informed him as she held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you." Tai replied as he shook her hand. "My name's Tai, Tai Kamiya."

"Hey, I don't know if it's too early for you. But would you like to get a cup of coffee?" Rei offered.

"That'd be great." Tai agreed.

After paying for their purchases, the two headed to a small café that was only next door to the store. They got their coffee and sat down at one of the small tables outside.

"So Mr. Kamiya, just what was it that was on your mind when we bumped into each other?" Rei asked.

"I was thinking about my ex-girlfriend and how it ended between us." Tai explained.

"What happened between you two?" Rei asked.

"A few months ago my younger sister was kidnapped." Tai began. "She's fine now, but she was gone for about two months. I was pretty angry with myself that whole time because I thought it was my fault that I didn't do enough to protect her. And I just took it out on my girlfriend, Sora."

"So there's no chance of you getting back together, I take it." Rei assumed.

"She ended up with my best friend." Tai revealed. "In fact they're married and expecting a kid."

"Oh… ouch." Rei replied. "That must've caused some tension."

"At first." Tai admitted. "It still does a little, I guess. But I'm happy for them both."

"You seem like you're being a real good sport about this." Rei remarked. "I'm not sure if I'd take it so well if something like this happened to me."

"The three of us have been friends for years." Tai continued. "Plus my little sister married my friend's little brother, so we're all pretty much family."

Rei's eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Wow! Seems like your family has its share of drama."

Tai chuckled a bit. "You could say that. I'm sure your family's had its share too."

"I won't argue with that." Rei admitted. "For one thing both my parents are dead. They died in a car crash when I was twelve. That's how I ended up in this chair."

"I'm real sorry to hear that." Tai replied. "So… is there any chance you'll be able to walk again?"

"Well, all the doctors I've seen say there's a chance I might be able to walk again one day." Rei answered. "But it's a long shot, so nobody's real optimistic about it. I don't let it slow me down though."

"I don't doubt it." Tai replied. "So besides you, is there anyone else left in your family?"

"Just me and my older brother." Rei revealed. "We don't seem like we're as close as we used to be though. In fact these days he's been throwing himself into his work."

Tai glanced at his watch and noticed the time. "Oh crap! I better be going or I'll be late getting ready for work. Sorry I have to leave so soon."

"It's fine. I should probably get going to." Rei decided before grabbing a napkin. "But before you go, I'd like you to have this."

Tai took the napkin Rei offered him and noticed something written on it. "Is this your phone number?"

"Call me sometime, 'kay?" Rei replied with a wink before rolling off.

Tai looked at the phone number for a few moments before putting the napkin in his pocket. As he headed back home, he found that he was in a much better mood than before.

* * *

Neo sat at the breakfast table in his penthouse apartment sipping from his cup of coffee as he read the paper. The ring of his doorbell interrupted his reading. Neo calmly got up to answer and found Bram standing on the other side.

"I hope I'm not too early." Bram greeted.

"Not at all." Neo replied as he let Bram in. "Glad you come to see me."

"You know I don't see why we couldn't have this little meeting at my place." Bram remarked as he sat at the table.

"That's because when I go to your place, I feel like I'm walking into a brothel." Neo told him. "What is it with all those women you keep over there?"

"I'm merely someone who appreciates the finer things in life." Bram innocently replied. "You should take the time to do the same, my young friend."

"I'll consider it once we finally change the world." Neo coldly responded. "Now then, what is it you wanted to discuss about Norn and the prototypes?"

"I think it's best we leave them where they are a few days." Bram suggested. "We should take this time to build up our forces for the next attempt."

"And in the meantime we simply let Norn and the prototypes roam free?" Neo asked.

"Don't worry, Neo. This is exactly how we want things to go." Bram told him. "Norn's awakening process is going splendidly. Once she reaches a certain level of awareness, we will make our move and take the power we need to change both this world and the Digital World."

Before Neo could respond, the doorbell rang again. Neo got up to answer and found Rei on the other side of the door.

"Hi Neo." Rei greeted. "Sorry to drop by this early, but I think I might have left my phone here yesterday when I came to visit."

"Oh… of course." Neo responded. "Come on in. I have it right here on the counter."

Rei entered the apartment as Neo went to go get her phone. While looking around, Rei noticed Bram sitting at the table.

Bram noticed Rei as well and walked over. "Well, this is certainly an unexpected treat. Who might you be, my dear?"

"Bram, this is my younger sister, Rei." Neo introduced as he returned with Rei's phone. "Rei, this is a business associate of mine."

"Bram Vladimir Collins, at your service." The gentleman greeted as he kissed Rei on the hand.

"Uh, nice to meet you." Rei replied.

"Please leave now, Rei." Neo coldly requested. "Bram and I have very important business to discuss right now."

"Yeah… okay." Rei replied before leaving the apartment with her phone in hand.

"Lovely young lady." Bram remarked.

"I'll thank you to leave my little sister off your lists of sexual conquests." Neo told him.

"I understand." Bram replied. "It's a pity though. I could've totally changed her life."

"Getting back to the matter at hand, you make a good point about taking time to build up our forces." Neo continued. "Now that more Digidestined are involved, we're going to need more power if we're to take back Norn."

"How true." Bram agreed. "But I'm starting to wonder if perhaps those Waspmon you've cultivated will be enough."

"Not to worry. I have a contingency plan." Neo assured him before tapping a few keys on his laptop. "I trust you're familiar with this species."

Neo turned the screen of the laptop towards Bram. Floating in a small window on the display was a bluish jellyfish-like creature with two small horns and a large yellow eye.

"Ah, a Kuramon." Bram observed. "That's truly a destructive creature when fully evolved."

"I've already cultivated several of them." Neo revealed. "But given their destructive capabilities, I've held off on setting them loose. Even so, if it means getting Norn and changing this world, I'm willing to unleash them no matter the cost. This world will be changed, even if I have to destroy it first."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Those familiar with the _V-Tamer 01_ manga may recognize Neo's sister, Rei. Back when I did _Home by the Sea_ and _Demon Crisis_, I kind of felt bad about breaking up Tai and Sora. Though I did like Matt and Sora as a couple a lot better. Still, I felt like I needed to come up with a new love interest for Tai. And after reading _V-Tamer 01_, I got inspired to just use Rei. Now I just need to come up with a love interest for Davis.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	5. The Double Crest

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 5: The Double Crest

It had been a peaceful four days since Kari and T.K. had found out that Norn was somehow their child. Izzy and Jason had been working around the clock to find answers, but the network firewalls of the Saiba Corporation were proving incredibly hard to break though. If there truly were secrets about Norn to be had from those computers, it was going to take a lot of time to get to them. In the meantime, both Kari and T.K. had grown used to Norn living with them. In fact it was becoming hard for them to picture their lives without her.

Another day of class was beginning, and Kari was sitting on her normal bench reading and drinking her usual cup of coffee. It was still only a few minutes before her next class.

As Kari took another sip from her cup, her friend Yoko arrived and sat down next to her. "Hi Kari."

"Oh, hi Yoko." Kari greeted. "How are you?"

"Pretty good. But I'd like to talk to you about that date you set me up on last night." Yoko replied. "You know, the one with your old boyfriend."

Kari had been dreading this moment. Even with all the things with Norn that were going on, Kari had still taken some time to set Yoko up on a date with Davis. It was a decision that she very soon regretted, and one she would not have made had Ken and Yolei not been so desperate.

"Look, I'm real sorry about that." Kari told her. "It's just that Davis had been driving a couple of my other friends crazy lately, and they thought it'd help if he started seeing people again."

"Hey, you don't have to explain thing to me." Yoko assured her. "I just wish you had let me know he was on some kind of celibacy kick before going into this."

"Wait, what?" a surprised Kari asked.

"I practically threw myself at the guy last night." Yoko continued. "But half way through the date he told me that he wasn't interested in that kind of thing and just left."

"Are we talking about the same guy?" Kari asked. "You did go out with Davis Motomiya last night, right?"

"Is this why you two split up?" Yoko asked. "Because you wanted things to get physical and he wouldn't put out?"

"Kind of the opposite, actually." Kari answered. "I'm so sorry about this, Yoko."

"Hey, don't feel bad." Yoko assured her. "We all knew how this might end, and I wasn't looking for anything serious anyway. Of course I was expecting things to be a little more fun, but it is how it is. Thanks for trying to do me a favor."

"No problem." Kari replied.

"Well, we should probably be getting to class." Yoko decided as she got up.

As Kari stood up to follow her, her cell phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, she saw that it was T.K. "You go on ahead, Yoko. I'll catch up."

"Okay." Yoko replied before walking off.

Kari put the phone to her ear. "Hi T.K. What's up?"

_"I'm not calling at a bad time, am I?"_ T.K. replied on the other end.

"I've still got a minute." Kari answered.

_"Well, I just wanted to call real quick and tell you that Matt and Sora just offered to take us to dinner and a movie tonight."_ T.K. explained. _"They said Norn could come along too."_

"You know, that might be good for her." Kari replied. "Plus she probably hasn't seen a movie before. Or at least doesn't remember seeing one before. Let's do it."

_"Okay, I'll give them a call."_ T.K. responded. _"This should be a fun night."_

* * *

Neo and Bram walked into the lab of the Saiba Corporation. Inside they found Gaiomon and TigerVespamon sparing with one another. Both warriors slashed their four swords wildly at one another, neither seeming to land a blow. They both stopped when the noticed that Bram and Neo had entered the room.

"Good to see you both at the top of your game." Neo told the two Digimon.

"We've been preparing ourselves for the next mission, sir." TigerVespamon replied.

"I've been prepared for days." Gaiomon corrected. "This was just to relieve my boredom."

"Well then, you'll be glad to know that we're making another move tonight." Neo informed them. "There has been a slight change in plans, however. In addition to the Waspmon and CannonBeemon, there will be another Mega level Digimon accompanying you."

"This is the first I'm hearing of this." Bram spoke. "You certainly are full of surprises."

"It was an unexpected development." Neo revealed. "I was testing the performance of a MetalTyrannomon I've been raising as a side project when it suddenly evolved. It will handle the prototypes and Norn while you and the swarm deal with the Digidestined."

"As you command." TigerVespamon replied.

"Fine with me." Gaiomon agreed. "Dealing with them is a better test of my strength anyway."

* * *

T.K. and Kari left the restaurant they had eaten dinner at after the movie with Norn, Matt, and Sora. Their respective Digimon had eaten in the restaurant with them at a separate table. It had been a fun evening for all. Norn had been greatly fascinated by the movie they had seen. As they all headed down the sidewalk, the group ran into Tai and Rei exiting another restaurant just down the street with Agumon.

"Oh… hi guys." A surprised Tai greeted. "Didn't expect to run into all of you."

"Same here." Matt replied. "What brings you to this part of town?"

"I was just out for dinner with Rei here." Tai explained.

"Rei, huh?" Kari replied with a smirk.

"Uh, it's not what you think." Tai told them.

"Yeah, Tai and I only just met a few days ago." Rei added.

"Uh-huh." Both Kari and Sora said together with the same sort of smirk.

"So, I think I can guess who most of you are from what Tai's told me." Rei continued in an attempt to change the subject. "Except for the little girl here."

"Oh, this is Norn." T.K. explained. "Kari and I have sort of taken her in. It's kind of complicated."

"So what do you guys have planned for the rest of the evening?" Kari asked.

"We're just going to head home after Rei does a little window shopping." Tai explained.

"Does your residence require a new window, Ms. Rei?" Norn asked.

"Uh… what?" Rei responded.

"Hey Kari, why don't we take Norn window shopping with Rei across the street and show her what it's about." Sora suggested.

"Good idea." Kari agreed.

"You ladies go on ahead. The rest of us will hang back here for a bit." T.K. told them. With that, the guys waited on the street corner while the ladies and their respective Digimon partners went across to a dress shop on the other side.

"You know, I think it's been a while since I saw Kari this happy." Tai remarked.

"I know what you mean." T.K. agreed. "Life has been good for us, but it sometimes seemed like she was expecting to get dragged back to the Dark Ocean. Like it wasn't truly over. Ever since we took Norn in though, Kari's been more like her old self from before all that happened. Norn's sort of changed our lives."

"T.K., I hope you're not getting too attached to Norn." Tai told him with a concerned look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" T.K. asked.

"All Tai is saying is that we still don't know anything about Norn or where she came from." Matt reminded him. "We just don't want to see you and Kari get hurt."

"Well it's too late." T.K. told them. "Kari and I… we really have started to see Norn as our own child."

"But what if Norn's some kind of trap?" Matt's partner Gabumon suggested. "For all we know, she could be an enemy in disguise."

"That's right." Agumon agreed. "And the same goes for those two Digimon of hers."

"That's impossible." Patamon calmly argued. "Gatomon and I have been with Norn, Agu, and Gao twenty-four seven ever since she showed up. We don't sense anything evil about them."

"I can't believe that either." T.K. agreed. "If Norn is an enemy, than why have all these Digimon been coming after us?"

"T.K., we're only just…" Matt began.

"No! I won't buy it." T.K. insisted. "Whatever's going on here, Norn is a victim in all of this. And I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect her."

Before the argument could get any further, the air was suddenly filled with a strange and all too familiar buzzing sound. Everyone looked up to see the air filled with a massive swarm of Waspmon. Flying in with the swarm were five large mechanical bee-like creatures. They were yellow and black in color with red eyes. Their abdomens were in the form of long cannons, and on their backs were large honeycomb-like containers.

"What are those things with the Waspmon?" T.K. asked.

"Those are CannonBeemon." Patamon answered.

"They look like they could destroy this whole area!" Tai observed.

"Then let's take them out!" T.K. decided. "You ready Patamon?"

"Ready!" the mammal Digimon replied with a nod.

T.K.'s D-3 then let out a mechanized cry. "BIOMERGE!"

With that, T.K. turned into a ball of gold light and entered Patamon, triggering his transformation. "Patamon biomerge digivolve to… Seraphimon!"

With his evolution finished, Seraphimon took off into the air to fight the swarm. He only took out three of the Waspmon before a fast-moving object charged at him from behind. Seraphimon just barely managed to being slashed and looked to see that it was TigerVespamon.

"So, you've come back for more." Seraphimon observed.

"My objective is to retrieve the girl." TigerVespamon replied. "I will not stop until that objective is achieved."

"You'll have to go through me first!" Seraphimon declared.

"That is easily arranged." The insect warrior replied before leaping up at Seraphimon.

As Seraphimon and TigerVespamon began to clash, all the civilians in the area began to run from the swarm. In the midst of the chaos, Gaiomon jumped down from above to corner Kari and the other ladies.

Kari stood protectively in front of Norn with Gatomon. "I'm not going to let you take her!"

"Then just try and stop me." Gaimon dared. "Maybe you and the cat will make much better opponents than the angel I faced before."

"You're asking for it!" Kari replied. "Ready Gatomon?"

"Let's take him down!" the feline Digimon replied.

Kari's D-3 then let out its mechanized cry. "BIOMERGE!"

With that, Kari turned into a ball of pink light and went into Gatomon. "Gatomon biomerge digivolve to… Ophanimon!"

As soon as her transformation finished, Ophanimon shot Gaiomon in the shoulder with a beam of light from her javelin. The samurai dragon growled in pain and took a step back.

"Agu! Gao! Protect Norn and the others!" Ophonimon ordered. "I'll handle this one!"

"I'll make you pay for that!" Gaiomon swore.

"Like hell you will!" Tai shouted from across the street. "Agumon!"

"Agumon warp digivolve to… WarGreymon!" the lizard Digimon cried as he transformed in a burst of orange light, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name.

In moments Agumon had transformed into a humanoid dragon with yellow skin and a head covered in silver and black armor. On the sides of its head were two horns, with a third horn on the end of his snout. His torso was also clad in silver armor, while the armor on its arms was gold. Each piece of armor on its forearms had three blades at the end that looked like claws, and on its back was a split gold shield.

WarGreymon flew across the street and rammed into Gaiomon, knocking him into the side of the nearby building. "I'm going to be your opponent for this fight!"

"So, another member of the Greymon race." Gaiomon observed as he got back to his feet. "You'll make a much better opponent than those angels."

"Bring it!" WarGreymon dared.

With that, Gaiomon charged and slashed at WarGreymon with his two swords. The dragon warrior quickly blocked the attack with the shield on his back. WarGreymon then drew Gaiomon away from Ophanimon and the others. All around, the swarm continued to attack.

"Biyomon, let's help take care of this!" Sora decided.

"Right!" the pink bird replied with a nod before glowing with a red light. "Biyomon warp digivolve to… Hououmon!"

The light cleared and Biyomon had become a giant bird with four massive wings and gold feathers. On her face she wore a gold mask, and around her legs were gold bands. Sora quickly got onto Hououmon's back and the two took off into the air. The gold phoenix began destroying some of the Waspmon with blasts of crimson flames from her wings. Meanwhile across the street, Matt watched as Seraphimon and TigerVespamon continued to do battle.

"Let's help out too. Gabumon!" Matt decided.

"You got it!" the wolf pelt wearing yellow lizard replied as he began to glow with a blue light. "Gabumon warp digivolve to… MetalGarurumon!"

The light cleared and Gabumon had transformed into a large wolf covered in grey mechanical armor. A pair of gold blades stuck out from the sides of its back like wings. MetalGarurumon fired a barrage of missiles from its body that all struck TigerVespamon from behind. Parts of the insect warrior's body became covered in frost.

TigerVespamon turned around to see MetalGarurumon growling at him. "What is this?"

"I'm going to be your opponent now!" The metal wolf explained. "Deal with it!"

"Very well." TigerVespamon agreed before charging at the wolf.

MetalGarurumon took off down the street to lead TigerVespamon away from the area. Tai and Matt took the opportunity to get across the street to Norn and Rei.

"Hey Seraphimon!" Matt called as soon as he and Tai were over. "You and Ophanimon help Sora take care of the swarm! Tai and I will take care of Norn and Rei!"

Seraphimon and Ophanimon looked at one another for a moment before nodding and taking off into the air. The two angels joined Hououmon in destroying more of the Waspmon.

"So Tai, does this sort of thing happen to you and your friends often?" Rei asked.

"Not as often as it used to, but yeah." Tai admitted. "Sorry to spoil your evening."

"Hey, don't worry about it." Rei assured him. "It's not as if you planned on this to happen. But I have to wonder why all these bugs are attacking like this."

"They're after me." Norn suddenly spoke. "They keep coming after me. I don't know why though. I don't like that this keeps happening."

"Hey Norn. Let's us fight." Agu requested. "Gao and I can get rid of these bugs, no problem."

"Yeah, let us handle it." Gao agreed. "You can count on us."

Norn wiped a tear from her eye and nodded. With that, Agu and Gao began to glow with a brilliant light and transform.

"Agumon digivolve to… GeoGreymon!" Agu cried as he transformed into the orange dinosaur-like creature.

"Gaomon digivolve to… Gaogamon!"Gao cried as he changed into the giant blue dog that was his Champion form.

Just as some of the Waspmon began to advance, Agu shot forth a large fireball that exploded and took out a good part of the swarm. Gao breathed out a razor-sharp whirlwind that cut apart more of the mechanical insects. Suddenly the street echoed with a loud stomping noise that caused the remaining Waspmon to fall back. Norn and the others looked and saw a massive mechanical dinosaur-like monster lumbering towards them from down the street. Its metal body was covered in rust and on its mounted on its back was a long metal cannon. A large green light was on its chest and the inside of its mouth glowed red.

Atop one of the nearby buildings, WarGreymon and Gaiomon were still locked in battle. But they both paused when they noticed the mechanical dinosaur's arrival.

"What kind of Digimon is that?" WarGreymon wondered.

"That's RustTyrannomon." Gaiomon explained. "The pet MetalTyrannomon of one of my masters evolved into it not long ago. As a result it's now a Mega level, and one that's built for combat."

"Agu and Gao don't stand a chance against that thing!" WarGreymon realized. "I have to help them!"

The dragon warrior was about to fly off to attack RustTyrannomon when Gaiomon swung his swords and hit him in the side with a blade of light. It took a moment for WarGreymon to get back up.

"You're not going anywhere." Gaiomon told him. "We're still in the middle of a battle. And it will not end until one of us is dead!"

As Gaiomon drew WarGreymon away, RustTyrannomon continued to lumber towards Norn and the others. Agu and Gao quickly moved to block the mechanical dinosaur's path.

"It doesn't look so tough." Agu remarked.

"Are we looking at the same Digimon?" Gao asked with a quirked brow.

"Let's just take it down!" Agu told him. "Mega Burst!"

RustTyrannomon was blasted with an intense stream of flames from Agu's mouth. But when the attack ended, the mechanical dinosaur seemed to be unharmed. Gao let loose another razor sharp twister, but the attack did nothing. RustTyrannomon retaliated by firing a massive beam of red light from its jaws. Both Agu and Gao were hit and knocked down. But the two managed to get back up after a moment.

"The way things are now, those two don't stand a chance against that thing." Matt observed.

"No kidding. They're way outclassed." Tai agreed. "At this rate, I don't think Agu and Gao will last much longer."

"You mean… Agu and Gao will…?" a worried Norn realized.

Rei took Norn's hand and glared at Tai and Matt. "Dang it Tai! Will you and your friend just keep your mouths shut?"

"Uh, Rei?" Tai responded.

"Can't you guys see that you're upsetting Norn?" Rei pointed out to them. "I know all this looks bad, but come on! If you can't be optimistic, then you just keep your mouths shut!"

Both Agu and Gao retaliated with another blast, but once again they had no effect. RustTyrannomon hit them from another shot from its jaws. This time neither Agu nor Gao seemed to be getting back up.

"No!" Norn cried out.

"I think they've had it this time." Matt remarked.

"You will just shut up?" Rei told him.

"No… I don't…" Norn continued as tears came to her eyes. "I DON'T WANT AGU AND GAO TO DIE!"

Suddenly a small glowing white symbol appeared on Norn's chest. It resembled Kari's Crest of Light with the ray from T.K.'s Crest of Hope beneath it. An instant later, a pillar of white light appeared around Norn, enveloping Rei in the process. Suddenly both Agu and Gao began to glow and transform.

"GeoGreymon digivolve to… RizeGreymon!" Agu cried out.

"Gaogamon digivolve to… MachGaogamon!" Gao called out.

The light from both Digimon faded to reveals their transformations. The mask-like carapace on Agu's face had turned to grey metal and a main of spikey red hair grew from the back of his head. His torso had been covered in red cybernetic armor with a blue-green light on the front and a pair of mechanical wings on his back. Agu's left arm had become armored as well and ended in a massively long grey gun barrel. Gao meanwhile had become a humanoid dog with blue and white fur with a pair of mechanical gloves on his hands and two jet boosters on his back. He also had on a pair of black and white pants with mechanical boots, and draped across his torso like a sash was a red and silver championship-boxing belt.

Agu aimed his gun barrel at RustTyrannomon. "Trident Revolver!"

Three glowing red ammunition shells shot from Agu's weapon struck the mechanical dinosaur with explosive force. Massive cracks began to form in the mechanical dinosaur's armor.

Gao flew towards RustTyrannomon with his fist raised. "Winning Knuckle!"

The dog warrior punched a massive hole through the mechanical dinosaur's torso and flew straight through. In seconds, RustTyrannomon exploded in blast of smoke, metal, and flames.

"No way!" an awe-struck Tai exclaimed. "Just what kind of Digimon are these two?"

With the battle at its end, both Agu and Gao reverted back to their Rookie forms. Norn meanwhile stopped glowing and the strange crest had faded from her chest. The blonde girl collapsed her knees, causing Agu and Gao to run over.

"You okay Norn?" a concerned Agu asked.

"Don't worry about me." Norn replied with a gentle smile. "I'm more worried about you two."

"We're fine, just a little worn out." Gao assured her.

"Hey, are you okay Rei?" Tai asked, noticing how dazed the redhead seemed.

"I think so." Rei replied. "Right now I'm feeling sorta tingly all over. Like I grabbed onto a live wire or something."

* * *

WarGreymon and Gaimon continued to battle atop another building not far from where Agu and Gao had fought RustTyrannomon. After blocking another light blade from Gaiomon's swords, WarGreymon began to create a ball of orange energy between his hands. In seconds the ball grew to the size of a boulder and WarGreymon raised it above his head.

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon called out as he threw the sphere at Gaiomon.

Before the energy ball could hit, Gaiomon began slashing his swords and creating more strange tracks of light. The sphere pushed against the wall of light tracks for a few moments before exploding.

"You'll have to do better than…" Gaiomon began to speak. But before he could finish, WarGreymon had come at him like a spinning top and began drilling into his chest.

Gaiomon roared in pain as WarGreymon continued his attack. After a few moments, WarGreymon finally pushed through and came out the other side. Gaiomon fell to his knees with a massive hole in his torso. His body slowly began breaking down into particles of data.

"You are truly one… worthy of the Greymon name." Gaiomon told his opponent. "It is… an honor to die against you."

WarGreymon watched as Gaiomon's body faded away to nothing. With his opponent finally slain, the dragon warrior flew off to rejoin Tai.

* * *

MetalGarurumon continued his battle with TigerVespamon down the street from where the fight with the swarm was taking place. Despite the insect warrior's speed, he could not dodge every one of the metal wolf's missile blasts. TigerVespamon's armored body was almost totally covered in frost. MetalGarurumon had taken some damage from TigerVespamon's sword attacks, but it was minimal compared to the damage that MetalGarurumon had done. Both combatants had taken a brief pause.

"We don't have to do this, you know." MetalGarurumon told him. "Why not just give up?"

"I have been given my orders." TigerVespamon told him. "Prepare to die!"

The insect warrior charged at MetalGarurumon with both swords raised. Before TigerVespamon could land a blow, MetalGarurumon got up on his hind legs and fired a large missile from a chamber inside his stomach. The missile hit its target and created a massive explosion of frost. TigerVespamon was on his back and his body had become dissolving into particles of data.

"So… I have failed." TigerVespamon spoke. "But others will take my place. My commander's mission… will not fail."

MetalGarurumon watched as the insect warrior faded away. After a moment he took off down the street to rejoin the others.

* * *

Sora and Hououmon continued fighting off the rest of the swarm with Seraphimon and Ophanimon. They had destroyed most of the Waspmon, but they were still outnumbered. And they also had to avoid the shots being fired from the ammunition containers of the CannonBeemon. During the fight as a Waspmon moved in on Sora and Hououmon from behind, QueenChessmon arrived and knocked the mechanical insect out of the air with her mallet.

"You two okay?" QueenChessmon asked Sora and Hououmon.

"Yeah." Sora answered. "Glad you showed up."

"We better get out of the way." QueenChessmon told them. "That ego maniac is about to make his grand move again."

Sora and the others looked and saw Alphamon hovering in the air with his golden wings unfolded. Upon seeing this, Seraphimon and Ophanimon headed for the ground. Hououmon and QueenChessmon took their lead and followed after them.

"Foul creatures of the Digital World! I, Alphamon, shall put an end to thee!" the knight proclaimed. "Digitalize of Soul!"

A large circle of green light appeared in the sky above the swarm. The head of a massive white dragon emerged from the circle and breathed out a burst of lighting that obliterated what remained of the swarm. With its job done, the dragon's head receded back into the circle and the circle itself vanished. Alphamon joined the others on the ground and the remaining Digimon reverted back to their original forms. Norn quickly ran over to Kari and hugged her.

"It's okay Norn. It's over now." Kari assured her as she stroked the girl's head.

"Sorry Guinevere and I are a little late." Arthur told everyone. "We came as soon as we saw this little fight on the news."

"Glad you could show up." Tai told him. "Are Izzy and Jason with you?"

"They're still busy at work on that little project of ours." Arthur replied. "But the last update I had gotten tonight is that they're almost through."

"Well, this has all been interesting. But I'd like to get home now." Rei requested.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Tai agreed. "Let's pick this up tomorrow, guys."

* * *

Neo and Bram had watched the entire battle on a video screen in the lab. They had both paid special attention to Agu and Gao's fight with RustTyrannomon.

Bram was greatly pleased by the outcome. "Magnificent! Norn's true powers have finally started to awaken."

"Yes, all the readings seem to indicate that." Neo agreed as he checked a few computer screens. "It seems that your plan worked out after all. Even though it did cost us a lot."

"I think now is the time for us to stop playing around." Bram decided. "Norn and her two little friends have stayed with the Takaishis long enough."

"I couldn't agree more." Neo replied. "And I'll handle the retrieval myself."

With that, Neo pressed a few buttons on a wall consul and a red vortex appeared in the center of the lab. Emerging from it were two large insect-like creatures with grey cable-like legs. Their heads and torsos were covered in white armor with red trim. On the forehead of each creature was a single red horn.

"So, two of your Kuramon have evolved into Infermon." Bram observed. "Even Seraphimon and Ophanimon should have trouble with these two."

"And while they're handling our two Infermon here, I shall retrieve Norn and the prototypes myself." Neo told him. "The power to change the world is finally in our grasp."

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter proved to be a little harder to write than I thought it would be going into it. I'd like to think I've gotten pretty good at doing battle scenes, but the full-scale kind of battles are still sort of a challenge for me. Anyway, I'm still trying to figure out what to call the united crest of Hope and Light that appeared on Norn in this chapter. The symbol itself was fairly easy to come up with, but the name still eludes me. So for now I'm calling it the double crest.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	6. Capture

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 6: Capture

It had been a quite drive as T.K. and Kari made their way back to their apartment building. It had also been a slow one due to the inconvenient traffic delays caused by the earlier battle. Norn, Agu, and Gao had all fallen asleep almost as soon as the drive started. The battle had left all three of them exhausted. Kari, T.K., and their two Digimon meanwhile had been silent. They all had much on their minds.

"I wish we knew why all these Digimon have been coming after Norn." Kari spoke, finally breaking the silence.

"Don't worry, we will." T.K. assured her. "And when we do, we'll be able to stop all this."

"If only we knew who Norn was and where she came from." Kari continued. "How is it that she's somehow related to us?"

"You know just after the battle, Matt mentioned that a crest symbol had appeared on Norn's chest when Agu and Gao evolved to their Ultimate forms." T.K. recalled. "He said it looked like a combination of our crests of Hope and Light. I guess she really is related to us somehow."

"I wonder if we should expect the same thing when we have more children?" Kari remarked with a small half-smile.

Before T.K. could respond, two fast-moving objects impacted the pavement a few feet in front of them. T.K. brought the car to a screeching halt. The headlights of the car revealed two insect-like Digimon with wiry legs and white armor.

"A pair of Infermon?" a stunned Patamon identified. "Where did they come from?"

"Never mind where they came from." Gatomon told him. "We have to get rid of them now!"

"Patamon and I will take care of it." T.K. told Kari. "You and Gatomon stay here with Norn."

"No way!" Kari told him. "You and Patamon can't take those two on by yourselves."

"What's with all the noise?" Agu complained from the back of the car. The others looked back to see him and Gao waking up.

"Another pair of Digimon just showed up." Gatomon explained. "They're probably here for Norn. Can you two keep an eye on her for us while we take care of them?"

"Of course we can, you dumb cat!" Gao told her. "You don't have to tell us how to do our job."

"I'll let the dumb cat remark slide this time, mutt." The feline Digimon replied. "Just keep her safe."

"Well?" Kari asked T.K. with crossed arms.

T.K. gave a defeated sigh. "Well Patamon, looks like we're not going to win this one, are we?"

"Nope." The mammal Digimon agreed.

"Okay then. Let's get rid of these two Infermon!" T.K. decided.

Kari and T.K. got out of the car with their Digimon partners. As soon as they biomerged into Seraphimon and Ophanimon, the two angels flew full speed at the enemy Digimon before them. The two Infermon opened their mouths and began firing shots at them. Both angels managed to block the attack. Seraphimon fired a cluster of seven gold fireballs at the Infermon on the left, while Ophanimon blasted the other with a ray from her javelin.

Both Infermon were hit but seemed relatively unfazed by the attack. The jumped backwards and tucked their heads and legs into their bodies, which levitated off the ground. The insect-like creatures took off and flew at the angels like a pair of missiles. Seraphimon and Ophanimon took off straight up into the air and the two Infermon followed. After rising at least fifteen feet into the sky, Seraphimon took off to the right, while Ophanimon took off to the left. The Infermon stayed right on their tails.

The two angels changed direction again and began to fly towards each other. As soon as they met, they both flew higher into the air at the last second, causing the two Infermon to collide with one another. As the Infermon fell from the sky, Seraphimon cut one of them in half with the sword blade from his right arm. Ophanimon pierced the other in the center of its body with her javelin. Both Digimon exploded and faded to nothing. Seraphimon and Ophanimon remained floating in the air for a moment.

"Nicely done." Seraphimon told his female counterpart.

"Indeed. You two are more impressive than I was told." A voice from below agreed.

The angels looked down and saw a young man with long white hair standing by their car. He had on a black leather jacket and black jeans with a white shirt, black leather boots, and a pair of black fingerless gloves. Both Seraphimon and Ophanimon were alarmed to see that he held an unconscious Norn in his arms. There was Digimon with him. It was a large semi-humanoid creature with wiry arms and legs and large clawed hands and feet. Its torso was covered in black armor and had some kind of round opening in the center of its chest. Wild blonde hair grew from the back of the creature's head, and its face was a hideous black mask with horns and a demonic-looking face. It held an unconscious Agu and Gao in each hand.

"That Digimon… it's a Diaboromon!" Seraphimon realized.

"How are you?" Ophanimon demanded to know in both her own voice and Kari's.

"I am Neo Saiba." The young man answered. "And I have come to take back Norn and her two little friends. You see, these three are my creations."

"Hand them over right now!" Seraphimon ordered.

"Diaboromon, I think it's time we made out exit." Neo told the monstrous Digimon.

"Okay Neo." The thing replied in a hideous voice. "Web Wreaker!"

Diaboromon fired several blasts from the opening on its chest, creating several blinding explosions that blocked Seraphimon and Ophaniomon's path. When the explosions finally died down, both Neo and Diaboromon had vanished without a trace and had taken their captives with them. The angels landed and split back into their respective human-Digimon pairs.

Kari began frantically looking around for Neo and his Digimon henchman. "Where could they have gone?"

"Calm down Kari, we'll find them." T.K. assured her.

"This… this can't be happening." Kari spoke as she fell to her knees. "Norn!"

* * *

Kari and T.K. had contacted all of the other Digidestined in the city as soon as they had returned home. Arthur and Gwen had arrived first with Jason and Izzy. Matt and Sora had arrived soon after with Ken, Yolei, and Cody. The only ones still yet to arrive were Davis and Tai. As the group began settling in, another knock came to the door. Kari got up to answer the door in an effort to keep busy. Upon opening the door, standing on the other side was a brown-haired young man in a blue t-shirt and tattered jeans and a small blue-green and white bipedal dragon. Kari recognized the pair as Davis and Veemon.

"Hi Kari." Davis greeted. "Veemon and I came as soon as we could."

"Thanks Davis." Kari replied as she stepped aside. "Come on in."

"So how you doing?" Davis asked as he and Veemon entered the apartment.

"About as well as can be expected." Kari answered. "But recently I've been wondering how you've been doing. My friend Yoko told me that it didn't work out between you two."

"Oh, that." Davis replied as he rubbed the back of his head. "Look Kari, I appreciate you setting me up with your friend, but… I'm just don't think I'm ready to get back out there yet."

"Is it because of… how things ended between us?" Kari asked.

"Well, I kind of am trying to get over you still." Davis admitted. "It's a little more complicated than that though. But don't worry about me, Kari. I'll be just fine. Besides, right now we've got other things to worry about."

"Yeah, you're right about that." Kari agreed.

"Hey, don't worry. We'll get Norn back from this Neo guy." Davis assured her with his trademark grin and thumbs-up. "You can count on it."

Before Kari could respond, another knock came to the door. Kari opened the door to find Tai and Agumon with Rei.

"Hi Kari." Tai greeted. "You doing okay?"

"I've been better." Kari replied. "But what's Rei doing here?"

"Rei thinks she can help us." Tai explained.

"Hey Kari? We should probably join the others now." Davis reminded her.

Kari nodded, and with that the four went to the living room. Most of the other Digidestined were a bit surprised to see that Rei had arrived with Tai.

"Hey Tai, didn't you have time to drop Rei off?" Matt asked.

"I asked to come with." Rei revealed. "I was with Tai when he got Kari's call, and he told me a little about what happened. That's why I asked to help. You see… Neo Saiba is my older brother."

"What the…!" Sora responded. "Tai, why didn't you say anything about this?"

"I didn't know!" Tai responded. "I mean I knew Rei's last name was Saiba, but I never made the connection."

"And it's not something I really brag about either." Rei added. "Look, you have to believe me that I had no idea my brother was behind any of what you guys have been dealing with."

"Do you have any idea why your brother would do something like this?" Ken asked.

"I have no idea." Rei replied. "Neo and aren't as close as we used to be. He still cares about me of course. But after the accident that killed our parents and put me in this chair, he became cold and distant and started throwing himself into his work. At first I thought it was because he was dealing with running our dad's company, but now I don't know."

"I think Jason and I might be able to fill in some of the blanks." Izzy interjected. "We finally managed to break through the Saiba Corporation's firewalls earlier this evening. There are still a few encrypted files we're trying to break, but what we've found seems to indicate that the Saiba Corporation isn't simply trying to explore the Digital World. They're trying to exploit it."

"Exploit it how?" Arthur asked.

"The company's focus concerning the Digital World seems to be Digimon for military use." Jason revealed. "Seems that Neo himself has developed a sort of digital cloning process. Basically, he can create his own Digimon at will."

"So in other words, he can create whole armies of Digimon and sell them to highest bidder." Gwen deduced. "Just wonderful."

"One has to assume that the Digimon that have gone after Norn so far have all been Digimon created by Neo." Izzy deduced. "Including those two Infermon Kari and T.K. encountered."

"Wait a minute. If Neo can create his own Digimon, it probably means that Agu and Gao are his creations too." Patamon realized.

"You're probably right." Gatomon agreed. "But what about Norn? You don't think that maybe he somehow created her too."

"I don't care where Norn came from." Kari told everyone. "The only thing I'm worried about is getting her back."

"Indeed. That should be our focus at the moment." Arthur agreed. "The thing we have to figure out now is where Neo might've taken her."

"He probably took her to the Saiba Corporation's headquarters." Cody assumed.

"I'm not so sure." Arthur replied. "If Neo is as smart as we think he is, he's probably anticipating us to come after him. Ms. Rei, do you have any idea where Neo might've retreated to?"

"Well, he might've gone back to his apartment." Rei replied. "But I think he might've taken Norn to this business partner of his."

"Business partner?" Arthur repeated.

"Yeah, I saw him at Neo's place a few days ago." Rei explained. "Bram Vladimir Collins. He was pretty handsome and charming, but kind of creepy too. Anyway, it seemed like whatever they were talking about that morning was pretty secret."

Jason began typing a few things into his laptop. "Got it. Bram V. Collins. According to what I've found, he has a mansion here in Tokyo. There doesn't seem to be all that much about him though."

"Is there a picture of the guy?" Tai asked.

"Sure is." Jason answered as he turned the laptop to show everyone Bram's picture.

Gatomon came closer to the screen to get a better look. Something about the picture seemed to unsettle her.

"Something wrong, honey?" Patamon asked.

"There's something about this guy's eyes that seem… familiar." Gatomon answered. "I don't know. It's probably nothing."

"I see what you mean, Rei. He's not half bad-looking." Sora admitted. "But there is something off about him. He looks so pale."

"In any case, Norn has probably been taken to the mansion of this Mr. Collins." Arthur assumed. "Though we should cover all our bases. We'll split into three teams. Jason, Izzy, and Cody will check Saiba Corporation headquarters. Davis, Ken, Yolei, and Sora will check Neo's apartment. The rest of us will go to the mansion of this Mr. Collins."

"I'm going with to the mansion." Rei decided. "If Neo really did bring Norn there, than maybe I can talk some sense into him."

"It's worth a try." Arthur agreed. "Let's be off, everyone."

* * *

Neo entered the cavernous basement of Bram's mansion with Diaboromon and his captives. In the center of the room was a steel table with two large computers. Neo placed walked over and placed Norn on the table.

Bram walked into the room as Neo began strapping Norn in. "Ah! I see it all went well."

"I'll need a few minutes to prepare, but it won't be much longer." Neo informed him. "The only thing that concerns me is that the Digidestined may try to interfere."

"Don't worry, my young friend." Bram assured him. "I'm sure that the Digidestined will come for little Norn. In fact I'm counting on it. But you will have plenty of time to get things ready."

"What makes you so sure?" Neo asked.

"Because if they do indeed come here, they'll have to deal with my ladies of the evening first." Bram answered with a sinister smile.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Some of you reading may have noticed the little subplot concerning Davis. It was actually going to be a more prominent plot line in the original version of this story, but I kind of felt like it would've taken away from the main storyline with Norn. So the thing with Davis will be dealt with more in a future story.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	7. The God Reborn

**Author's Note:** I'd like to thank my reviewer, Lily Nadesico for being the first one to make a guess about Bram's true identity. I'm actually a little surprised that no one has made a guess up until now. But the secret behind Bram will become a bit clearer by the beginning of this chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 7: The God Reborn

The team consisting of Kari, T.K., Arthur, Gwen, Matt, Tai, and Rei arrived at the mansion of Bram Collins in Rei's van. The house was a vast two-story mansion that looked as though it had not been used in decades. And in the dead of night, it seemed to take on a much more frightening appearance than it would in the light of day. The team walked up to the door as quietly as they could. Though it took a little work to get Rei and her wheelchair up the front steps.

"Okay, so now what?" Rei asked once they were all before the door. "Do we just knock?"

"One does not simply knock when trying to enter an evil lair, Ms. Rei." Arthur pointed out as he began searching is jacket pockets. "Now where did I put that lock pick?"

Suddenly, T.K. kicked open the door with his foot. The door opened up, revealing the almost pitch darkness from the main hall inside. The rest of the team looked at T.K. with surprise.

"What? Norn might be in there. And she is sort of my kid." T.K. pointed out.

"We all appreciate the urgency of the situation, old boy. But I was going for a more stealthy approach." Arthur informed him.

"Now we'll probably have to fight our way through a bunch of thugs." A somewhat annoyed Gwen assumed. "For once, Arthur had the right idea."

"What do you mean for once?" Arthur asked as his left eye twitched a bit.

"Look, let's just get in there and try to find Norn." Tai told them.

The rest of the team nodded in agreement and went inside. Only a few torches mounted on the walls lighted the main hall of the mansion, and the entire room was covered in dust. Suddenly walking down the main staircase was a woman with long blonde hair wearing a backless red gown. She had very pale skin and odd golden eyes. Four other young women entering from the left and right side of the room began to enter as well. One of the women coming in from the left had short red hair, while the other had long blue hair tied back in a braided ponytail. As for the two women entering from the right, one had green hair cut just past her shoulders, and the other had long black hair that grew down past her waist.

All four of these women had the same pale skin and golden eyes, and they all wore the same backless red gown as the blonde. The team felt uneasy about the appearance of these women. They were all beautiful, yet somehow unnatural. Dorumon growled at the five as they approached.

"Welcome visitors." The blonde greeted as she and her four companions stopped in front of the team. "How may we serve you?"

"Since you ask, can any of you ladies tell us if Mr. Bram Collins or Mr. Neo Saiba is here?" Arthur inquired. "We have rather urgent business with them both."

"The master and his friend cannot be disturbed right now." The blonde told him with a rather seductive smile. "But we will be more than happy to serve you. We can make this a night that none of you will ever forget."

"Are they coming onto all of us, or just the guys?" Rei quietly asked Gwen and Kari.

"I'm kind of hoping they aren't coming onto us Digimon too." Agumon responded.

"I don't think I like where this is going." Gabumon remarked.

Suddenly all five woman hissed and opened their mouths, reveal sharp incisor fangs within. They charged at the team to pounce them to the ground. But as soon as they came near, Kari and T.K.'s bodies gave off a blinding light that caused the women to shriek in pain. The light faded after a moment and all five of the women were on the floor unconscious.

"What the hell was that?" a surprised Matt asked the couple.

"No clue." T.K. replied. "Kari?"

"I'm as stumped as you are." An equally surprised Kari responded.

"Were those women… vampires?" a stunned Rei asked.

"Arthur, you don't think that…" Gwen began to assume.

"Now, now, Guinevere. Let's not jump to conclusions." Arthur told her.

"Oh come on, you windbag! We've only encountered vampires like those girls one other place!" Gwen pointed out.

"She might be onto something, Arthur." Tai agreed.

"Do you realize how unlikely that is though?" Arthur pointed out. "We all saw the beast get destroyed."

"What the heck are you guys talking about?" a confused Kari asked.

"Look, let's all just focus on finding Norn first." Arthur told them. "If our Mr. Collins really is the man we're thinking of, then we have an entirely new problem on our hands."

"Hey! I don't think these ladies are vampires anymore." Patamon observed from his perch atop T.K.'s head.

The others looked and saw that the women had indeed gained normal skin color. Slowly they were all regaining consciousness.

"Where am I?" the blonde wondered as she rubbed her head. "And what the hell am I wearing?"

"Excuse me, ladies." Arthur spoke, getting their attention. "Do any of you five remember what happened to you or what's going on?"

"The last thing I remember is meeting this guy at a bar named Bram." The blue-haired woman recalled. "He was extremely charming. Quite the looker too."

"Yeah, not to mention a demon in the sack." The green-haired woman added. "I didn't think I was going to be able to walk after the night we had. Though I don't really remember anything after we… you know."

"Same with me." The redhead interjected.

"Do any of you know if Bram or a man named Neo Saiba might be here?" T.K. asked.

"Oh, I'm Mr. Saiba's secretary." The blonde informed them. "I don't know if he's here or not. But I do know he has a lab down in the basement of this house. Bram, I mean Mr. Collins showed it to me when he gave me a tour of the house."

"Let me guess. After your little tour, you had a little wine and he took you up to his room." The black-haired woman deduced.

"Yeah." The blonde confirmed. "Come to think of it though, he didn't have any wine at all. He said he didn't drink it in kind of an odd way."

"Doesn't drink wine, huh?" Gwen quietly remarked as she crossed her arms.

"Not now, Guinevere." Arthur said through his teeth as he maintained his charming smile. "Ladies, I thank you all for your kind help. But I think it might be best if you all returned home now and perhaps get a shower and a change of clothes."

"And maybe some counseling." Gwen added.

"Shut up, you harpy." Arthur told her through his teeth. "Now then, ladies. Off you go. Thank you again for your kind help."

After a moment, the five women got to their feet and quickly left the house. Arthur gave an exasperated sigh as soon as they were gone.

"Am I the only one here who isn't afraid to say who this Bram guy really is?" Gwen asked.

"You're certainly the only one who won't shut up about it." Arthur responded.

"I agreed with Arthur." Gatomon cut in. "I think I have a pretty good idea who you're all talking about, and I really don't want to think about it. Let's just focus on finding Norn."

With that, the team headed for the lab that the blonde had spoken of. They were somewhat relieved that the passageway that led down to the lab was a smooth incline rather than a staircase, as it would've been practically impossible for Rei to accompany them in her wheelchair if it was the latter. In moments they had reached the cavernous chamber that was Neo's lab. Norn was strapped to a metal table in the center of the room. On her head was strange metal helmet with long wires on the side connected to two large computers. Agu and Gao meanwhile were both unconscious inside spherical glass cages on each side of the table.

"Norn!" a somewhat horrified Kari called out.

"What the hell is this?" T.K. wondered.

"I knew some of you would probably come here." A voice spoke. Neo walked out from a dark part of the chamber and stood between the team and the table. "And I knew that Bram's little harem wouldn't be enough to stop you."

"Let Norn go now!" T.K. ordered.

"I'm afraid not." Neo replied. "Especially not when I'm so close to awakening her full power."

"Please, stop this Neo!" Rei interrupted.

"What? Rei?" a stunned Neo responded. "What… what are you doing here? How are you even involved in this?"

"Never mind that, Neo!" Rei told him. "What are you doing all this for?"

"You'll understand soon enough, Rei." Neo told her. "In only just a few seconds, Norn's true memories will awaken."

Before anyone could ask what Neo was talking about, Kari noticed a digital timer counting down on one of the computers. The device beeped, and suddenly currents of white electricity traveled down the wires connecting to Norn's helmet. Norn's body convulsed and gave off a blinding white light that washed out the entire room.

* * *

_The light cleared and the team found that they were floating in a dark sky over a vast wasteland next to a raging ocean. The sky around them was filled with hordes of Digimon. Many of them looked like angels, dragons, or demonic creatures. There were several Digimon on the ground as well. And like the ones in the sky, they all seemed to be fighting._

_"What is this?" Rei asked. "Is this the Digital World?"_

_Before anyone could answer, a massive creature suddenly burst out of the water of the ocean. The thing resembled a massive red crocodile with twin tails and two blue dorsal fins on its back._

_"What is that thing?" a surprised Matt asked._

_"It… can't be." A horrified T.K. responded. "It's Leviamon!"_

_"Wait, as in one of the Seven Lords?" Tai asked. "The one that Kari and Gatomon killed when you two were at the Dark Ocean?"_

_Suddenly the group noticed another Digimon standing on the shoreline as if ready to do battle with the demonic crocodile. It resembled a large bison with eight legs and long white fur. Another Digimon then jumped out of the water near the bison. It looked like a mermaid with long silver hair and scaly blue and purple armor. In her hands she carried a golden trident._

_"Who are those two Digimon?" Kari wondered._

_"That white buffalo down there is AncientMegatheriummon." Arthur identified. "And the mermaid is AncientMermaimon."_

_"Arthur, do you know these two Digimon?" Tai asked._

_"Only from legend." Arthur answered._

_AncientMermaimon raised her trident and created a massive twister of water that completely engulfed Leviamon. Soon after, AncientMegatheriummon blew out an icy blast that froze the twister into a massive glacier. Only a few seconds after though, the glacier shattered apart and Leviamon breathed out a massive blast of rainbow colored smoke that knocked the two Digimon back. Both of Leviamon's opponents seemed greatly injured by the attack. Moments later, the team heard what sounded like an engine._

_Looking down, the team saw a humanoid Digimon riding a motorcycle. He was clad in a black leather jacket with a very dirty white-furred collar, and black pants and spiked boots. Tide around his left upper arm was a red bandanna, and on his hands he wore black metal gloves. His face was covered by a dark purple mask that only revealed the light blue skin around his mouth, his spiky blond hair, and his red eyes, which included a third eye on his forehead. Holster in the sides of both his boots were shotguns, and a black cord-like tail could be seen hanging behind him._

_"That's Beelzemon!" Matt realized._

_"But how's that possible?" Tai asked. "We took down Beelzemon months ago!"_

_Suddenly the team saw what looked like a large wooden horse galloping after Beelzemon. It had several cannons mounted into its body._

_"Arthur, isn't that…?" Gwen began to ask._

_"AncientTroiamon." Arthur confirmed._

_After a few moments, Beelzemon stopped his motorcycle and turned to draw one of his shotguns. The demon biker fired a shot that hit the inside of the cannon barrel on AncientTroiamon's chest. The shell exploded and the wooden horse collapsed._

_Beelzemon laughed madly. "Ya really thought you could beat me, ya dumb wooden horsy? None of you generals are a match for me!"_

_Just then, the team heard a large rumbling sound not far away. The turned and saw two large Digimon locked in physical combat. One was brown had a muscular almost humanoid body and a wolf-like head with curved horns. It had a pair of purple bat-like wings on its back, and wrapped around its wrists were chains that burned with eerie flames. The Digimon that grappled with it had a very round upper torso that looked like a rock. The upper half if its face was blue and it had very large fists._

_"That's Belphemon! The demon lord that totaled Sora's old apartment!" Matt recalled._

_"You guys really lead strange lives." Rei remarked._

_"Arthur, do you know who the Digimon fighting Belphemon is?" Tai asked._

_"If memory serves, that should be AncientVolcamon." Arthur answered._

_Suddenly Belphemon managed to throw AncientVolcamon to the ground. Before the rock-like Digimon could get back up, Belphemon pounced him back down and began pummeling his with his claws. Just then another Digimon flew down past the team and hit the ground. It was humanoid Digimon covered in silver armor. On her back was a pair of vibrant yellow and green wings. Lying near her right hand was a golden rapier. Whoever the Digimon was, her impact in the ground had left a crater._

_The air became filled with the sound of shill and triumphant laughter. Looking up, the team saw a woman with pale skin and raven-black hair adorned with gold ornaments. She wore a black bodysuit was a purple skirt that was open in front, and long baggy purple sleeves. The symbol of a black bat was on her forehead, and her right hand was a decayed claw._

_"That's Lilithmon!" Kari identified._

_"And the Digimon she just beat is AncientKazemon." Gwen added with a look of sadness. "I think I'm starting to figure out what's going on a little."_

_Lilithmon laughed in triumph. "To think that a pathetic bird like that thought she could beat me. Oh Daemon! Do you need any help? I'm done here."_

_The team turned to the direction that Lilithmon was looking. Down on the ground was a Digimon with an almost gorilla-like body. Most of his body was covered in fur in the color of dried blood, with only his face, chest, and hands being bare. The furless parts of his body had light-blue skin. His face had a large mouth filled with fangs and no nose, and on his head he had long black hair and large horns. On his back was a pair of bat-like wings. Much of the team recognized the demon as Daemon, the demon lord of wrath._

_Standing across from Daemon was a strange and large insect-like creature. The lower half of its body was orange and red, and had six legs. The top half meanwhile was blue and had a pair of arms that ended in large horn-like spikes. Its head bore a single large horn and had no visible eyes or a mouth. Whatever the creature was, it looked as though it had been badly injured._

_"I do not need your assistance, Lilithmon." Daemon told his fellow demon lord. "AncientBeetlemon is almost finished."_

_The insect Digimon made several clicking noises and fired a blast of yellow electricity at Daemon. The lord of wrath brought his clawed hands forward and shot forth a stream of hellfire that blocked the attack. After a moment, the flames broke through AncientBeetlemon's attack and knocked the insect to the ground._

_"Whatever's going on, it looks like the Seven Lords are winning." T.K. grimly observed._

_Suddenly the air became filled with what sounded like an old man's cackling. The team looked and saw a Digimon that looked like an old man with a long grey beard that went past his knees. The skin of his face was yellow and he had a large nose, pointed ears, and blood-red eyes. On his back were three pairs of red bat-like wings, and he wore robes of red, purple and black. He had large blue almost talon-like hands with fingernails that were like long dark-blue claws. He wore several rings on his fingers, and in his right claw he carried a long staff with a red orb on top held by an animal skull._

_"That must be Barbamon, the demon lord Ken and Davis fought with Ryo." Tai deduced._

_The lord of greed was standing over a wizard-like Digimon clothed in green and white robes. Its torso appeared to be some kind of mirror, and it had purple-feathered fans instead of hands._

_"To think that you thought you could defeat me, AncientWisetmon." Barbamon mocked with a fanged grin. "My magic is far greater than yours could ever be."_

_Suddenly Barabamon was pounced to the ground by a large black lion clad completely in black armor. On its back was a pair of golden metal wings. Its face was like a mask with a golden beard like those worn by the pharaohs of Egypt._

_"So, now it's you who wishes to face me, eh AncientSphinxmon?" Barbamon observed. "You will regret that decision."_

_"Just die!" AncientSphinxmon roared as he fired a massive blast of black energy from his mouth._

_Barbamon blocked the attack using his staff. The gem on the staff flashed and created an explosion of black flames. When the attack ended, AncientSphinxmon was on the ground and Barbamon was still standing._

_"What the heck is going on here?" a confused T.K. asked. "One minute we're about to rescue Norn, then all of a sudden the Seven Lords are back from the dead!"_

_"They're not actually back from the dead, T.K." Arthur told him. "I don't know how, but I'm convinced that what we're seeing is a playback of the final battle between the Seven Lords and the forces of Yggdrasill."_

_"Wait, you mean the battle where the Seven Lords were sealed in the Dark Ocean?" Kari recalled._

_"The very same." Arthur confirmed. "The Digimon we've been seeing fight the Seven Lords are eight of Alphamon's ten generals."_

_"How do you know so much about this?" Matt asked._

_"Arthur, myself, and the rest of the original members of Team Excalibur learned about this battle during our original trip through the Digital World." Gwen explained. "We found a cave that had the story of this battle carved on the walls. These generals look just like their pictures."_

_Suddenly falling down from the sky to land with a thud was a large humanoid Digimon clad in white armor with dark-blue stripes. In each of his hands it had a large golden sword. Landing next to it soon after was a four-legged dragon with feathered wings and a body covered in red armor. A main of blonde hair grew from the back of the dragon's head, and had on what looked like a white armored mask. Both Digimon looked badly injured._

_"Who are those two Digimon?" Agumon asked._

_"The warrior is AncientGarurumon, and the dragon is AncientGreymon." Arthur explained. "They were two strongest members of the ten generals."_

_"Uh, guys? There are two other Digimon right above us." Rei informed them as she pointed upward. "I recognize the one Digimon, but who's the other guy?"_

_The team looked up and saw Alphamon hovering in the sky above them. The other Digimon meanwhile was a somewhat muscular angel wearing a bodysuit that had black sleeves and pants and a white torso. On his legs he wore knee-high white boots with gold wings on the ankles, feathered wings on the right and batwings on the left. His hands were clad in white gloves, and on his chest was the symbol of a gold sun. The wings on the angel's right side were white and feathered, while the wings on his left side were black batwings. He had long blonde hair and an effeminate face._

_"That's… Lucemon." Kari identified._

_Alphamon looked as though he was catching his breath, and he looked as though he were injured. Lucemon meanwhile had a smug expression on his face and looked like he had not gotten a scratch._

_"So just how long are we going to continue this little struggle of ours?" Lucemon asked in a high effeminate voice. "Not that I'm not enjoying myself. But it doesn't seem like you have much fight left in you, Alphamon."_

_"I will fight you until my last breath!" Alphamon declared. "You will never prevail!"_

_"Oh really?" Lucemon responded with a quirked brow. "Your generals have fallen before the might of my fellow lords, and your armies can't last much longer. I think it's clear that I shall be the one who is victorious."_

_"I shall put an end to you, fiend!" Alphamon proclaimed as he charged with his sword of light raised._

_Before the ancient knight could land a blow, Daemon, Lilithmon, and Barbamon surrounded him and blasted him from all sides. Lucemon then hit the knight from the front with ten fireballs arranged in a cross. Alphamon fell to the ground to land next to AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon._

_"What was that you said earlier about me never prevailing?" Lucemon asked mockingly. "I think it's finally time we end this. Goodbye, Alphamon."_

_"Stop!" a deep booming mechanical voice ordered._

_The battle around the team froze and everyone looked to see a large object emerging from the clouds about. The thing looked almost like a massive suit of white futuristic armor, though there were no legs. Instead it had a sort of thick metal skirt. Its face was a sort of black and red screen._

_Lucemon began to chuckle at the site of the mechanical entity. "So you've deemed to come off your mountaintop and face us personally, eh Yggdrasill?"_

_"I can no longer allow this to continue, Lucemon." Yggdrasill told him. "This war has caused far too much damage to the Digital World. Therefore, I have no choice but to eliminate you."_

_"How can you oppose me when I've only tried to do what you created me for?" Lucemon argued._

_"I created you to protect the Digital World, not enslave it." Yggdrasill corrected._

_"You created me to bring order to the Digital World!" Lucemon argued, his face showing rage. "The only way to do that is with absolute rule, so that chaos does not have a chance to bloom!"_

_"You have already brought chaos to this world." Yggdrasill pointed out._

_"Only because you opposed me!" Lucemon shot back, showing more signs of anger. "How can I be punished for only doing the task I was created for?"_

_"Because I had made you flawed, Lucemon." Yggdrasill answered. "And now you have become corrupted. For that, I deeply apologize."_

_"I do not need your pity." Lucemon responded in a deep hate-filled voice. "Only your death! Destroy him!"_

_Lucemon, Daemon, Lilithmon, and Barbamon blasted Yggdrasill with all the power they could muster. The smoke cleared to reveal that a large hole had been blasted in the front of the mechanical deity. But floating out of it was a blue crystalline figure in the form of a woman with two swords. The being gave off a magnificent white light._

_"What is this?" Daemon asked._

_"Well, it seems we've exposed Yggdrasill's true form." Lucemon spoke in his high effeminate voice._

_"He's a woman?" a surprised Lilithmon observed._

_"Male or female, Yggdrasill still opposes us, Lilithmon." Lucemon reminded her. "Keep that in mind."_

_"Of course, my lord." Lilithmon replied._

_"Well, it seems you're not as all powerful as you thought you were." Lucemon told the digital god. "Now we have you right where we want you."_

_"No matter what you do, this battle will not end the way you want." Yggdrasill told the demon lord in a gentle female voice. "One way or another, I will stop you."_

_Lucemon fired another cluster of fireballs at Yggdrasill, but the digital goddess evaded the attack and flew in to slash Lucemon with her swords. The fallen angel fell back, allowing Daemon, Barbamon, and Lilithmon to attack her from three sides with dark flames. When the attack ended, Lucemon moved in and attacked Yggdrasill with several swift punches. By the time his attack finally ended, several cracks had formed in Yggdrasill's crystal body._

_"So my creator, do you still think you have a chance at winning?" Lucemon asked._

_"My goal is not to win, but to simply prevent you from winning." Yggdrasill replied. "It is clear to me now that my forces and I do not currently possess the strength to destroy you. I have faith that one day a power will come that can finally put you and your fellow lords to an end. But for now, it is clear what I must do."_

_"Lord Yggdrasill." AncientGreymon suddenly spoke as he weakly raised his head. "My fellow generals and I… no longer have the strength to go on. If you need more power, take all that we have left."_

_"What?" Alphamon responded. "AncientGreymon, what are you doing?"_

_"What we can… to stop Lucemon." The dragon replied. "It has been an honor fighting at your side… my friend."_

_"No!" Alphamon replied as he struggled to get back to his feet._

_"I can see Alphamon chose his friends well." Yggdrasill observed. "Very well, we shall end this together."_

_Suddenly the ten fallen generals turned into balls of light and flew into Yggdrasill's crystal body. The light from the digital goddess began to shine brighter. Soon after, a massive black vortex formed over the ocean and shot out swirling tendrils that ensnared all of the Seven Lords and what remained of their army. Try as they might, the demon lords could not escape their bonds._

_"What are you doing?" Lucemon demanded to know in his deep hate-filled voice._

_"Since I cannot destroy you, I am sending you to a place where you can do no harm." Yggdrasill explained. "I banish you and your fellow lords to the Dark Ocean. One day you may break free of the bonds I now place on you, but this shall end your rebellion."_

_"NNNOOOOOOOOOO!" Lucemon shouted as he and the other lords were pulled into the vortex._

_"Lord Yggdrasill!" Alphamon called._

_Yggdrasill turned to look down at the ancient knight. "Alphamon, I entrust the protection of this world to you and the Harmonious Ones. I know you will perform your task to the best of your ability. Farewell."_

_With that, Yggdrasill exploded in a blinding flash. The team thought they could all hear Alphamon cry out as the flash washed over the entire battlefield._

* * *

The light finally faded and the team found they had returned to the cavernous lab beneath Bram's mansion. Dorumon began whimpering like a sad puppy. A single tear fell from the little dragon's eye.

"What's wrong, Dorumon?" Patamon asked.

"It seems that reliving those events was painful for Sir Dorumon." PawnChessmon observed.

Arthur kneeled down to pat the little dragon on the head. "I had no idea that the battle had ended like that. It must've been hard for you to simply watch as your lord and your comrades sacrificed themselves."

"What I want to know is how it is we just saw all that." Matt cut in.

"What we've all just seen is a playback of Norn's most recent memory file." Neo explained. "Her older files should be rebooting as we speak. Once that happens, she'll finally have her full power."

"Memory files? What are you talking about?" T.K. demanded to know.

"I suppose there's no harm in you all knowing." Neo decided. "Essentially, Norn is the reincarnation of Yggdrasill."

"She's… what?" Kari responded.

"How is that even possible?" Tai asked.

"For a long time now, I've been obsessed with finding a way to control the Digital World." Neo began. "I believe that once I find a way to control that world, I can use the same methods to control this one. But my experiments with Digimon had only taken me so far. The about a month and a half ago, I met a fellow explorer of the Digital World, Bram Collins. He and I shared the same goal, so we decided to work together.

"Bram told me of an ancient god of Digital World and believed that we could find a way to take that power for ourselves. He even found a fragment of that god's core he thought we could use. But the fragment we found was inert. Analyzing it from a terminal in this world revealed that the fragment was nothing more than a broken code. But then I realized that I might be able to use that fragment to create a living being that had the same power as Yggdrasill. All that was needed was to compete the broken code.

"Bram's first thought was to use the fragment to create a new Digimon. But I decided to take things a step further. I'm sure most of you are aware of the World Genome Database that I created. It's true purpose was to allow me to create digital simulations of a person's DNA so I could learn how to manipulate it as easily as a Digimon's code. Using what I had already learned from my experiments, I decided to use the human genetic code to complete the broken code of Yggdrasill."

"Why did you use Kari and T.K.'s DNA?" Tai asked.

"That was Bram's idea." Neo explained. "I didn't really care what DNA was used. A single strand would've been sufficient, but Bram was very insistent. In the end though, the experiment was a success. With a little bit of conversion, I was able to transform the remains of Yggdrasill in Norn, the first synthetic human. She was barely aware of her own existence when she first awoke, but now she is fully sentient."

"So… that means Norn is…" T.K. began to realize.

"I suppose you and your wife could call Norn your clone. Though the term daughter works just as well." Neo replied. "But in the end, she is still my creation! And I will use her power to remold this world into a perfect world free of glitches!"

"We won't let you!" Kari declared. "I don't care what Norn is or where she came from! I'm not going to let you use her like this!"

"You're welcome to try and stop me." Neo dared as he reached into his pocket. "But just so you know, you will be fighting against one of your own kind."

With that, Neo pulled out his own Digivice. It was a black D-3 with white grips. The entire team was greatly surprised by this development.

"You're a Digidestined?" Tai realized.

"I became one during the second Diaboromon incident." Neo explained. "It was during that same incident that I met my partner. Come on out, Keramon!"

Flying out of the darkness of the far side of the lab was a strange blue-grey creature with a large round head and a body of tentacles. It had a pair of oddly jointed arms and two insect-like feelers atop its head. Its face consisted of two large orange eyes and a mouth that was permanently locked in a mad grin. The creature cackled insanely as it fired a pink blast at Kari and T.K.'s feet.

"How the hell did you get a Keramon as a partner?" Matt asked.

"What can I say? One of the Kuramon from that day chose me instead of working with the rest of its swarm." Neo replied. "Now Keramon! Destroy them all except for my sister!"

"Okay Neo." Keramon responded as it twisted its head in an unnatural way and began to glow with a silver light. "Keramon warp digivolve to… Diaboromon!"

The light cleared and Keramon had transformed into the hideous creature that had helped Neo abduct Norn earlier that night. Dorumon began to snarl and growl at the digital abomination.

"Seems we have a fight on our hands." Arthur observed.

"Matt and I will handle Neo and Diaboromon." Tai decided. "The rest of you just focus on freeing Norn, Agu, and Gao."

"Ready when you are." Matt responded.

Agumon and Gabumon nodded before turning into balls of orange and blue light and shooting into the air. "…Warp DNA digivolve to… Omnimon!"

The orange ball that was Agumon changed into a golden left arm that ended in Wargreymon's head, while the blue ball that was Gabumon changed into a silver right arm that had MetalGarurumon's head as a hand. A golden electrical current formed between the two arms and created a torso of white armor with blue stripes on the chest. White armored legs and a helmet extended from the torso. Afterwards three horns extended from the helmet and a white cape with a red underside appeared on the knight's back.

"So, the Digimon that slew the original Diaboromon appears." Neo observed. "But I'm afraid that my Diaboromon and I will be much more of a challenge."

"We'll see about that!" Omnimon responded. "You're going down!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** This chapter was both pretty fun and kind of hard to write. I've had the idea for the battle between Yggdrasill and the Seven Lords for ages, but I never really thought about how the battle was actually going to play out until now. But it was pretty fun binging back the Seven Lords for a bit. Ah, for the days when I worked on the _Demon Crisis_ series. Seems like a long time ago now, considering all the stories I've worked on since. Anyway, I actually teared up a little bit when I got to the part where Dorumon was crying after the flashback.

The origin of Norn in this story was actually inspired a little bit by the film, _Tron: Legacy_. Actually this whole story kind of was (it helped that I had read the _Digimon Next_ manga around the same time that I watched the movie for like the fourth time). As for Neo having Keramon/Diaboromon as a Digimon partner, that was kind of a last minute idea. Originally Gaiomon was going to be his partner, and I don't remember the exact thing that made me decide to change it. But considering Neo's relationship with Tai's counterpart in _V-Tamer 01_, I decided that his partner should be a Digimon considered to be Omnimon's nemesis.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	8. Imperfect World

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 8: Imperfect World

"You're all out of your league." Neo smugly declared. "But if you insist on standing in my way, then I have no choice but to eliminate you."

"This guy almost makes Ken's Digimon Emperor persona look like a choir boy." Matt remarked.

"Let's just worry about taking him down." Tai told him.

"Diaboromon, attack!" Neo commanded. "Show no mercy!"

"Cable Crusher!" Diaboromon shouted as his arms extended across the room.

In seconds, Omnimon was pinned to the wall by Diaboromon's large claws. One claw was latched onto the knight's torso, while the other restrained his upper arm. Omnimon managed to bend his right forearm and aim it at the digital abomination.

The mouth of the wolf's head opened and a large cannon barrel extended out. "Supreme Cannon!"

Diaboromon was struck by five icy shots from the cannon, forcing the creature to let go. Omnimon charged forward as a sword blade extended from the WarGreymon head on his left arm. The knight slashed Diaboromon across the chest, almost knocking the creature of its feet. As the two Digimon clashed, Kari, T.K., Arthur, and Gwen quietly circled around with their Digimon to free Norn while Neo's attention was occupied. T.K. and Kari got Norn off the table while Dorumon broke Agu and Gao's cages with a pair of metal balls shot from his mouth. With the captives in hand, they went over to another corner of the lab where they would be out of the way of the battle.

"Norn's out cold." A worried Kari observed as she held the girl in her arms.

"Not surprising considering what Neo did to her." Arthur pointed out. "It's still hard to believe that this girl is some sort of reincarnated form of Yggdrasill."

"Shouldn't we be helping Omnimon fight that creature of Neo's?" Gwen asked.

"We'll let Tai and Matt deal with Neo." Arthur decided. "Perhaps with Ms. Rei's help, they might just be able to reason with him. Besides, if our Mr. Collins is the individual some of us think he is, we'll need to save our strength."

"I can't get any cell phone reception down here." T.K. informed him. "Looks like we're on our own for now."

"Not to worry, old boy. The others will most likely come here once they realize this is where Norn is." Arthur pointed out. "For now, we must wait."

* * *

The team of Davis, Ken, Yolei, and Sora had arrived at Neo's apartment. Davis was ready to break down the door until Yolei had informed him that Rei had given her a spare key to the place before the all left to look for Norn. The team had searched the apartment from top to bottom, but quickly realized that they had come to the wrong place.

"Well, looks like this was a dead end." Sora observed.

"This isn't the kind of place where a person like Neo would take a hostage anyway." Ken pointed out. "Unfortunately I speak from experience."

"So now what?" Davis asked.

Ken got out his cell phone and dialed Izzy's number. Izzy picked up within a few moments. _"Hello Ken. Did you find anything?"_

"Afraid not." Ken replied. "I kind of thought the apartment would be a dead end anyway. How are things on your end?"

_"Jason and I hacked the surveillance feed of the Saiba Corporation's headquarters."_ Izzy responded. _"There's no sign of Norn or Neo, or of our mysterious Mr. Collins. Have you heard anything from Arthur's team?"_

"Not a thing." Ken answered. "That could mean that they've found Norn. But it also probably means they're in trouble. I think we should head for the mansion."

_"Good idea."_ Izzy agreed. _"The rest of us will meet you there."_

* * *

Omnimon and Daiboromon continued to clash. After exchanging more fire, the two Digimon stopped for a moment to catch their breath. Both of them had taken a good deal of damage, but the fight seemed to be far from over.

"You're a bit tougher than I thought." Neo remarked. "But you can't last for much longer. Eventually, Diaboromon and I will destroy you."

"Please stop this, Neo!" Rei begged. "Why are you doing all of this?"

"I don't need to explain myself to you, Rei." Neo told her.

"Like hell, you don't!" Tai shot back. "In fact you owe all of us an explanation! Just why the hell are you trying take this power Norn has?"

"So I can finally rid this world of its imperfections!" Neo told him. "With the power of Yggdrasill, I can reshape this world and rid it of all its glitches and bugs!"

"Glitches and bugs?" a confused Tai repeated. "What are you talking about?"

"Surly your life hasn't gone exactly the way you wanted it to." Neo replied. "Every person's life has some occurrence that comes along and throws everything into chaos. One minute, you're living a perfect life with your family. Only to have it all destroyed an instant later by something like a car accident."

A tear ran down Rei's cheek. "So that's what all this is about Neo? This is all because our parents died and I ended up in this chair? Well that's just life, Neo! You're right. The day that our parents died and we found out that I'd probably never walk again was the worst day of my life, but that's just how it is!"

"But it doesn't have to be!" Neo argued. "I will find a way to undo all that tragedy! That is what I have been working for all these years! Once I find a way to reshape the Digital World and make it into the perfect system, I shall do the same to this one! I shall make everything as it was before that day!"

"Get real!" Tai told him. "You think you can just find a way to snap your fingers and make every bad thing in your life go away? No one can do that. Even with the power of some digital god."

"You underestimate me!" Neo responded. "Look at all I have accomplished so far. I can create armies of Digimon and even created a human from what was once a hunk of stone. It's only a matter of time before I can crack the code that will allow me to bring order to this world!"

"The world you're after sounds kind of boring to me." Matt interjected. "Sure no one's life is perfect, but sometimes it's those imperfections that make it interesting."

"Enough!" Neo told them. "I've listened to you long enough! Diaboromon! Eliminate those two Digidestined and their pet!"

Omnimon raised his cannon to fire another shot, but Diaboromon used his cable-like arms to knock the knight aside. The creature then fired a shot from its chest cannon that headed straight for Tai. Only a split second before the shot could hit, Rei suddenly leapt out of her chair and tackled Tai to the ground. The blast kept going until it hit the wall behind where Tai had been standing. When the smoke cleared, Rei was standing on her own two legs.

"Rei. You're… standing?" a shocked Neo observed. "How? That… that shouldn't be possible! The doctors said that you had a very slim of ever recovering!"

"Yeah, but there was still a chance." Rei pointed out. "And look at me now, Neo."

"You okay Rei?" Tai asked as he got back to his feet.

"Yeah, you might want to grab onto me." The redhead answered as she began to stumble.

Tai managed to catch Rei before she fell to the ground. "How is it that you're able to walk again?"

"I don't know." Rei answered. "But ever since I grabbed onto Norn when she caused Agu and Gao to evolve and kill that metal dinosaur, it seemed like the feeling was coming back to my legs. Of course it's been awhile since I've used 'em, so I'm not exactly ready to run a marathon or anything."

"This… is impossible!" a still stunned Neo declared. "I never…"

"What, you never thought I'd walk again?" Rei responded. "Sure there're a lot of bad things that happen in life Neo, but a lot of good things happen in life too. Things like what's just happened to me. But you've been so obsessed with trying to control everything that you've forgotten about that. Sure maybe life isn't perfect, but in some ways that's what makes life wonderful."

"Can… can that really be true?" Neo wondered.

"I've had enough of this!" Tai decided. "Finish this, Omnimon!"

"Transcendent Sword!" Omnimon called out as he slashed Diaboromon across the chest with his blade.

The sword left a deep cut and caused Dioboromon to revert back into Keramon. The mutant Digimon hit the ground unconscious. Its body lay on the ground like a sea animal that had washed up on shore. Neo fell to his knees in defeat.

"It's over, Neo." Tai told him.

"I wouldn't say that just yet." A voice interrupted. Everyone looked to see Bram calmly walking into the lab. "You've done well, Neo. But I'm afraid your usefulness to me has come to an end."

Gatomon's eyes widened in fear and she began to shudder. "That voice! It… it can't be!"

"I'm afraid I recognize that voice too. Even though I've only heard it once before." Arthur admitted as he and Dorumon walked up to confront Bram. "So it really is you who's behind this whole business, eh Myotismon?"

Bram burst into laughter. "Very good. Though I suppose it was only a matter of time before one of you figured out my true identity. However, you should be addressing me by my proper name."

Suddenly Bram became enveloped in a pillar of crackling red energy. The energy faded to reveal Bram's new form. He still looked fairly human and about as handsome as his original form. He had chalk white skin and long blonde hair. The top half of his face was covered by a unique red mask with ends shaped like batwings. His outfit consisted of a black tuxedo with a red cummerbund. Across his torsi he wore a red sash with gold trim, and on his hands he wore white gloves. Hanging from his neck by a gold chain was a large golden medallion with a ruby gem in the center. On his back was a blood-red cape with a high collar.

"I am CountMyotismon!" the Vampire Digimon declared. "And I am far stronger than the last time you faced me!"

"So you have a new form, I see." Arthur observed. "Care to tell us how you cheated death this time?"

"In the end, BurningGallantmon's attack never destroyed me. Instead I had reverted back to a Pagumon." CountMyotismon revealed. "I was practically powerless, but still alive. And I managed to return to this universe by stowing away on Imperialdramon. Once I returned to the Digital World, I began the process of regaining the power I had lost. My evolution was surprisingly quick, and I soon discovered that I had retained certain abilities I had acquired from the D-Reaper. I found I could take on a human form and turn both humans and Digimon into my vampire minions."

"Yes, we've noticed your preference for young human women." Arthur informed him.

"I have developed a taste for them, yes." CountMyotismon admitted. "It's actually quite easy for me to look into their minds and see their every desire."

"Save us the disgusting pick-up methods!" T.K. told him. "Just what is it that you're after this time?"

"Back in the world of the Tamers, I had thought that I had acquired ultimate power in the form of the D-Reaper." The vampire began. "But I have seen that there is a greater power still. The power of Yggdrasill that boy Takaoto used to defeat me the last time. I've made it my mission to obtain that power for myself and become the ultimate god of the human and Digital Worlds!"

"So… all this time you've been using me to gain power for yourself, eh Bram?" Neo realized as he rose back to his feet.

"When I first found the fragment of Yggdrasill's core, I discovered it was dead." CountMyotismon continued. "I determined that in order to get the power I was after, I needed to take it from a living host. I found out about Neo's work and thought perhaps he could somehow use the core to create such a host. And thus Norn was born."

"We're not going to let you near her!" Kari declared.

"Go ahead. Try and stop me." CountMyotismon dared. "I've been wanting to destroy you all for a long time now."

Dorumon began to growl at CountMyotismon like a mad dog. At the same time, Gatomon began to hiss at the Vampire Digimon.

"Let's end this!" Arthur decided.

T.K., Kari, and Gwen nodded and their D-3s gave off their mechanized cry with Arthur's. "BIOMERGE!"

The four Team Excalibur members turned into balls of light and entered their Digimon, causing Dorumon, PawnChessmon, Patamon, and Gatomon to evolve into Alphamon, QueenChessmon, Seraphimon, and Ophanimon. The four Digimon and Omnimon stood ready to face CountMyotismon.

"You fools don't stand a chance against me." CountMyotismon smugly declared. "No matter what you do, the power of Yggdrsill shall soon be mine!"

"You shall never have that power, foul creature of the Digital World!" Alphamon proclaimed. "In the name of Lady Norn, I shall put an end to thee!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** I had sort of a debate about whether or not Rei was going to regain the use of her legs in this story. On one hand, I thought it would be a good way to help show Neo the error of his ways. But at the same time I thought it'd be a little cheesy. In the end I decided I wouldn't do it unless I could find a way to explain such a little miracle. So I decided to have Norn's powers accidentally do the job.

CountMyotismon of course is a Digimon of my own creation. In the original version of this story, I was going to have him come back in his original Ultimate form. But after thinking about, I decided that if Myotismon was going to come back, he had to be worse than before. Thus the idea of CountMyotismon was born. And we've only just begun to see the extent of his power.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	9. Untouchable Blood

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 9: Untouchable Blood

"It's a waste of time for the five of you to try and defeat me." CountMyotismon smugly declared. "But I'll be more than glad to speed you all to your deaths."

"As if, psycho!" Omnimon denied as he charged at the undead Digimon. "Just die and stay dead this time!"

CountMyotismon grinned and raised his right arm forward. "Crimson Shocker!"

Omnimon was hit by a blast of crackling red electricity shot from CountMyotismon's right hand. The force of the attack was strong enough to hurl the white knight into the wall near where Tai and the others were looking after Norn.

"Such power!" an awestruck Neo declared.

"I guess we shouldn't be surprised." Matt remarked. "I mean CountMyotismon's probably a Mega level."

"Oh really." CountMyotismon responded with a chuckle. "You think I'm a Mega level Digimon. I can see why you'd all make that assumption, but I regret to inform you all that I'm merely an Ultimate level."

"Are you kidding me?" QueenChessmon exclaimed. "This freak show is only an Ultimate Digimon?"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. For all we know, he may be lying in order to intimidate us." Seraphimon pointed out.

"No, I'm afraid he's telling the truth." Alphamon gravely informed them. "I can sense it. His power rivals that of Lucemon's!"

"But how?" Omnimon asked as he got back to his feet. "How can he be an Ultimate level and have that kind of power?"

"I told you all before that I had to start the cycle of evolution over again from my Pagumon stage." CountMyotismon reminded them. "By the time I reached my Champion form, I began to manifest powers left over from merging with the D-Reaper. Those powers became stronger when I evolved, producing the form that I have now. Imaging how strong I'll become when I take the powers of Yggdrasill! I'll become a god!"

"You will not have the chance, fiend!" Alphamon proclaimed as his sword of light appeared in his hand. "I will not fail Lord Yggdrasill again!"

"Then come at me with all you have!" CountMyotismon dared. "Crystal Blood Sword!"

With a wave of his right arm, blood streamed out from beneath CountMyotismon's sleeve and hardened into a large curved crystal sword in his hand. Alphamon charged at the vampire lord, but his sword of light was blocked by CountMyotismon's own sword. Suddenly QueenChessmon charged in from the side and cut off CountMyotismon's left arm with the blades that made up her skirt. The severed arm dissolved into bits of data, but the vampire grew back a new arm in a matter of seconds. An instant later, Alphamon fell back.

"What the hell?" QueenChessmon exclaimed.

"A valiant try, my dear. But thanks to the regenerative abilities I've gained from the D-Reaper, my body is near indestructible!" CountMyotismon revealed.

"Yeah? Well try recovering from this!" Omnimon responded as he fired his cannon at the vampire lord.

CountMyotismon was struck by four shots from the knight's cannon. But his body quickly recovered from the damage. The vampire lord slashed his crystal sword in the air, sending a large blade of red energy that knocked Omnimon on his back. It took a moment for the white knight to get back up.

"My body can repair itself faster than you can damage it." CountMyotismon told them. "There's no way you fools can destroy me."

Suddenly before the vampire lord could react, Seraphimon flew in close and fired an orb of light from his right fist. CountMyotismon was struck in the stomach and nearly fell to his knees. The angel then extended the sword blade from his right forearm and slashed the undead ruler across the chest, leaving a long cut. Before the wound could close up, Seraphimon moved aside to allow Ophanimon to fire a beam of light from her javelin. The golden ray struck CountMyotismon right in his left eye, leaving a large hole. CountMyotismon covered the wound with his left hand and attempted to slash the female angel with his sword. Seraphimon blocked the attack with his own blade, causing the blood sword to shatter.

"Wow! Serpahimon and Ophanimon are really kicking ass!" Tai observed.

"I guess that's what Myotismon gets for messing with T.K. and Kari's kid." Matt remarked.

"I think there's more to it than just parental rage." Neo theorized. "CountMyotismon's body seems to need more time to regenerate from attacks by Seraphimon and Ophanimon than it would from attacks by any other opponent. There must be some kind of factor that we're not seeing."

"Look Neo, this isn't another one of your little science experiments!" Tai told him. "So why don't you just…!"

"Wait Tai. I think my brother might be onto something." Rei interrupted. "Remember when those vampire girls attacked us upstairs? They went for Kari and T.K. first."

"That's right. The two of them gave off some kind of weird light that knocked those girls out and turned them back to normal." Matt recalled.

"Fascinating. That could mean that both T.K. and Kari have some kind of quality that CountMyotismon and creatures like him are vulnerable too." Neo theorized. "That quality is probably being channeled into Seraphimon and Ophanimon, perhaps boosting the natural advantage that Angel Digimon seem to have over the demonic and undead-types of Digimon like CountMyotismon."

Serpahimon hit CountMyotismon in the chest with a cluster of golden fireballs, causing the vampire lord to stagger backwards a few steps. The other three Mega Digimon gathered beside the two angels and prepared for one big assault.

"You're finished, foul one!" Alphamon declared. "Prepare yourself for the end!"

"Well done. You're more of a challenge than I though you'd be." CountMyotismon admitted as his wounds finally healed. "But you've only caught a glimpse of my power! Mode Change!"

Suddenly CountMyotismon's cape became a sort of red blood-like substance and covered him like a cocoon. In seconds the cocoon became a pair of red bat-like wings that unfolded to reveal the vampire in a much more hideous form. His jaw had become more pronounced, revealing a mouth full of fangs. His ears had also become larger and pointed while his nose had become like that of a vampire bat. The vampire's eyes had also become yellow and his blonde hair had become longer and much wilder than before. Much of his now muscular body had become clad in a strange red armor, with a white bat-like symbol emblazoned on the front of the chest plate. His large hands and feet had gained sharp red claws, and his legs had become double-jointed.

"What the hell?" Omnimon exclaimed.

"You did well against my Nobleman Mode, but let's see how well you do against my Savage Mode." CountMyotismon told them. "Nightmare Screech!"

With that, the creature let out a massive sonic blast that struck all five Digimon and knocked them to the ground. The attack also hurled Tai and the others against the wall. It took a few moments for Alphamon and the others to recover.

"Crystal Blood Shards!" CountMyotismon shouted as he began flapping his massive wings.

Flying from the wings was a massive barrage that struck all five Digimon. Seraphimon and Ophanimon were knocked to the ground and split back into the pairs of T.K. and Patamon and Kari and Gatomon. QueenChessmon also split back into the pair of Gwen and PawnChessmon. Omnimon and Alphamon managed to withstand the attack, but had both fallen to one knee. Many of the shards had also struck the far wall of the chamber, forcing Tai and the others to try and take cover. Somehow, the group managed to avoid being hit.

"You'll have to forgive me." CountMyotismon spoke. "While the full force of my powers are unleashed in Savage Mode, they're also a bit harder to control, as are my rage and hunger. And on that note, I think it's time I stopped playing around and have my meal."

CountMyotismon raised his right claw and suddenly Alphamon and Omnimon were pushed to the ground by an invisible force. At the same time, Kari, T.K. and the others were lifted off the ground and pushed against the wall. All that is except for Norn. With a motion from CountMyotismon's index finger, the girl's unconscious form hovered to the center of the room.

"I must admit, my dear Child of Light, I was hoping things would turn out this way." CountMyotismon remarked to Kari as he floated towards Norn. "Do you know why I selected the DNA of you and your husband to create Norn? It's my little revenge for the way you caused my first defeat all those years ago. I let Norn wander free with the intention that you'd find her and form an attachment to her. Now you can watch in horror as I drain every last drop of blood from her body!"

"NOOOOO!" Kari screamed as she watched in horror.

Just as CountMyotismon's claw touched Norn, the girl's body gave off a blinding white light that caused the vampire to roar in pain and pull back. The creature's claw smoked from being burned by the light. After a moment, CountMyotismon tried grabbing Norn again, but the result was the same. This time as the undead lord roared in pain, Kari and the others dropped back to the floor while Alphamon and Omnimon got back to their feet.

CountMyotismon staggered back as he held his smoldering claw. "What is this?"

"You truly are an arrogant creature." Norn suddenly spoke as she got back to her feet. "Perhaps as arrogant as Lucemon ever was. Did you not realize that in trying to make me an instrument of revenge, you also put the very power you covet out of your reach?"

"What are you talking about?" CountMyotismon demanded to know as he fell to His knees and held his injured claw. "You're nothing more than a calf I raised to be slaughtered!"

"I carry the blood of my parents. The blood that contains the powers of hope and light." Norn calmly explained as she walked towards CountMyotismon. "And to a creature like you, that power seems to be poison."

Norn touched CountMyotismon's claw, causing it to burn again with a blinding white light. The vampire roared in pain while Norn looked at him with a sad expression. Suddenly CountMyotismon's body began to flicker like static.

"What's going on?" Tai asked as he helped Rei back up.

"The power Norn's giving off seems to be causing the bonds holding CountMyotismon's body to break down." Neo observed. "At this rate, he'll be reduced to digital dust in a matter of seconds."

Slowly, CountMyotismon produced a ball of red blood in the palm of his left hand that formed into a large axe. The vampire used the axe to cut off his left hand and quickly jumped back a few feet. The severed claw Norn was holding onto quickly disintegrated into bits of data. Meanwhile, CountMyotismon cradled his wounded arm as his hand slowly tried to grow back.

"Norn!" A worried Kari called as T.K. helped her up.

Norn turned to her and smiled. "Don't worry, mom. I'm okay."

"Damn you!" CountMyotismon cursed. "Very well, you pathetic girl! If I can't have your power, than I shall simply destroy you instead!"

"It is you who shall be destroyed." Norn calmly told him. "I truly regret taking such action, but it is too dangerous to let a Digimon like you continue to exist. Agu, Gao, come to my aid!"

Norn began to glow with a white aura and the united crest of Hope and Light appeared on her chest. Agu and Gao's eyes snapped open, and their bodies became enveloped by pillars of white light.

"Agumon warp digivolve to… VictoryGreymon!" Agu cried out as he transformed.

"Gaomon warp digivolve to… ZeedGarurumon!" Gao called out as his body changed.

The lights faded and both evolved Digimon had reappeared by Norn's side. Agu, who had moved to stand at Norn's left, had become a Digimon that looked very similar to WarGreymon. Though instead of a regular pair of horns, the horns on the sides of his head were formed by a pair of golden blades that met at the front of his snout and formed a V-shape. The shield panels on his back were shaped more like wings, and instead of the bladed gauntlets of WarGreymon, he wielded a large three-bladed sword. Gao, who stood at Norn's right, had become a Digimon similar to MetalGarurumon. Only much of his armor was blue and he had a green nose. Rather than blades, the mechanical wolf had a large cannon on his back and a smaller cannon on the end of his cable-like tail.

"Those two look pretty powerful." Matt observed.

"Just what kind of Digimon are they?" Tai wondered.

"Those two were a side project of mine." Neo revealed. "My experiments with Digimon cloning helped me to crack the code of Digimon evolution, allowing me to influence the final form a Digimon would take. Those two are my first attempt to create enhanced Digimon. I made their eggs at about the same time I created Norn, and somehow she formed a connection to them."

"You two weaklings don't stand a chance against me!" CountMyotismon declared.

"Don't be so sure." Agu told him. "It's because of Norn's power that we were able to reach these forms. Which means we have a pretty good edge!"

"Zeed Cannon!" Gao cried as he fired a shot from the cannon on his back.

The massive blast from the cannon blew CountMyotismon's right wing clean off. Afterwards, Agu charged in and stabbed the blade of his massive sword into the vampire's shoulder. Once Agu jumped back, Gao fired every weapon on his body at CountMyotismon. Before the smoke could clear, Agu threw his sword in the air and the blade separated from the crossguard. The crossguard folded together and inserted itself into the armor on Agu's left wrist, while the massive blades went into the armor on his right wrist. Agu thrust the blade forwards, sending forth a blast of orange energy that struck CountMyotismon in the chest.

"Damn… you!" CountMyotismon cursed. "At this rate, I won't last much longer. But I still have one last card to play."

Suddenly a crimson light came from the right pocket of Neo's jacket. Neo pulled out the item from his pocket, revealing his smart phone.

"What's going on?" Rei asked.

"No! This can't be!" Neo spoke as his eyes widened in horror.

"What did you do?" Tai angrily asked the vampire.

"I'm retreating for now." CountMyotismon informed them as a swirling black vortex appeared behind him. "In the meantime, I'm sure you'll have fun playing with Neo's little toys. You'll be seeing me again, that is if you somehow survive what's to come."

Before anyone could do anything, CountMyotismon floated backwards through the vortex. As the anomaly closed, the scent of salt air and rotting fish briefly escaped from the other side, causing Kari to become nauseous. An instant later, a loud rumbling noise came from outside the mansion. The group quickly made their way outside to see what the commotion was. What the found outside the mansion was a horrifying sight.

There were four incredibly large Digimon, each of them insect-like. The creatures all had six long black narrow legs and purple bodies with worm-like tails. On their backs each of the creatures had a black carapace. Their heads were black as well and had small horns on the sides. The four creatures were rampaging through the city, destroying buildings with blasts of light from their mouths.

"Those are… Armageddemon!" a horrified T.K. identified.

"I never wanted things to get this far." Neo told them. "I created those Kuramon clones to use as last resort weapons. Now because of me…"

"The important thing right now is destroying those creatures!" Alphamon told them. "Otherwise this city and perhaps the world will be reduced to nothing!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm sure some of you reading were expecting Agu and Gao's Mega forms to be ShineGreymon and MirageGaogamon. Keep in mind that a good portion of this story was inspired by the _Digimon Next_ manga, and those were the Mega forms of the Agumon and Gaomon of that manga. Plus I kind of like VictoryGreymon and ZeedGarurumon better than those other two Mega forms.

Please review and let me know what you think.


	10. The Child of Radiance

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Digimon.

* * *

Chapter 10: The Child of Radiance

Kari and T.K.'s team watched as the four Armageddemon rampaged through the city. Landing just a few feet away from the mansion was a large four-legged dragon that was the shared Mega form of Veemon and Wormmon, Imperialdramon. He was primarily black and had a massive pair of red wings on his back, along with a large cannon. His feet had black gauntlets with long gold claws. Both of the gauntlets on his front legs had a long curved gold blade. His head had a mane of white hair.

HerculesKabuterimon landed right next to Imperialdramon, and the remaining two teams disembarked to join the rest of the group. Jason and Hagurumon had already formed into HiAndromon.

"What the hell happened?" Davis asked as he and the others approached.

"Ask Mr. Mad Scientist here!" Gwen answered as she pointed an accusing finger at Neo. "He's the one who created those monstrosities!"

"Why you lousy…!" Davis began to curse as he raised his fist to punch Neo.

"Now wait just a minute!" Rei interrupted. "My brother may have created those things, but it was CountMyotismon who let them loose!"

"Did you just say Myotismon?" a startled Sora asked.

"He's returned, and in a much stronger form than before." Alphamon explained. "But we can't worry about that right now. Those Armageddemon need to be stopped before they lay waste to the city."

"Considering our current fighting strength, we may not be able to." HiAndromon told the knight. "It seems that both you and Omnimon have taken a good deal of damage, and the rest of your team seems unable to fight at the moment. We do have Imperialdramon of course, but even with his help I'm not sure we'll be able to defeat four Amageddemon."

"Yes we can." Norn suddenly spoke. "But it will require my help."

"Norn, you've done enough for tonight." Kari told her. "Just let the others take care of it, okay?"

"I'm sorry mom, but I can't." Norn replied. "It's as HiAndromon said, the rest of you don't have the strength to defeat the Armageddemon. But with my power, there's a chance."

"Your power?" T.K. repeated. "Norn, what are you going to do?"

Norn smiled and turned to her two Digimon. "Agu, Gao, will you lend me your power?"

"Of course, Norn." Agu answered.

"We'll always do anything to help you." Gao added.

"Thank you, my friends." Norn replied as she began to glow. "Now… DigiXros!"

With that, Norn's body became shrouded in white light and began to change shape. At the same time, Gao and Agu turned into balls of blue and orange light and shot into the air. In seconds, Norn seemed to take on the figure of a young woman in her twenties. Though her body was still shrouded in white light. So it was impossible to make out any of her features.

The blue ball of white that was Gao came down and hit Norn's right shoulder. The ball changed into a piece of shoulder armor in the shape of ZeedGarurumon's head. In seconds, Norn's right arm became covered in blue futuristic armor with a pair of black cannon barrels mounted on the forearm. The orange ball of light that was Agu then came down and attached itself to Norn's left shoulder, changing into a piece of armor in the shape of VictoryGreymon's head. Gold futuristic armor quickly covered Norn's left arm, and on the forearm was a retracted sword blade.

The rest of Norn's body soon became covered in white and silver armor. On the front of the breastplate was the combined crest of Hope and Light that had appeared on Norn's chest in the past. Appearing on a piece of the armor that was like a belt buckle was a white-inverted triangle with three smaller triangles surrounding it. On Norn's head was a white helmet that had a gold star on the front similar to the star on Seraphimon and Ophanimon's helmets. Her long blonde hair spilled out from under the helmet, but a gold faceplate and a blue visor covered her face.

"Whoa!" an awestruck Davis commented. "How the heck did they do that?"

"Norn? Is that really you?" an equally awestruck Kari asked.

Norn turned back to look at Kari. "Don't worry, mom. It'll be okay."

"Well then," HiAndromon began, "I think the best way to go about this is to split into teams."

"Agreed." Alphamon replied. "Imperialdramon and HerculesKabuterimon shall take on the Armageddemon destroying the northern part of the city. HiAndromon and myself shall deal with the one in the south. Omnimon and Hououmon shall deal with the one in the eastern section, and… it seems this leaves Lady Norn to deal with the final one. The rest of you should wait here."

"I don't think I like this plan." T.K. spoke.

"It doesn't seem like we really have any other option though." Matt pointed out. "Besides, it seems like Norn can take pretty good care of herself."

"We must be off." Norn told the others as angelic wings made of white light appeared on her back. "The longer we wait, the more damage those Digimon will cause."

With that, Norn took off into the sky and flew off towards her assigned Armageddemon. Davis, Ken, and Izzy then boarded HerculesKabuterimon and flew off with Imperialdramon. Biyomon then evolved into Hououmon, allowing Sora, Matt, Tai, and Rei to get on her back. The phoenix then took off into the sky into the city.

"Hey Arthur." Gwen spoke just as Alphamon was about to take off. "Uh, be careful our there, okay?"

"I intend to." Alphamon replied in Arthur's voice before flying off.

HiAndromon nodded to Gwen before running after Alphamon at super high speed. The rest of the group was left to watch things unfold from the abandoned mansion.

"I hope Norn will be okay." A worried Kari spoke.

"Don't worry. She will." T.K. assured her as he put an arm around her.

* * *

Imperialdarmon and HerculesKabuterimon approached from the air as the first Armageddemon blasted the structures around it with beams of light from its mouth. The golden beetle shot the creature in the back with a blast of purple electricity. Imperialdramon flew down and attempted to attack from the front. Armageddemon fired another blast of energy from its mouth at the dragon. Imperialdramon rotated in the air a bit and narrowly avoided getting hit.

"Imperialdramon, mode change to… Fighter Mode!" the dragon called out.

As he landed, Imperialdramon took on a humanoid shape. His head transformed into a piece of chest armor with his original face on it, and he gained a new helmet covered by a green helmet. Soon after landing, the dragon became enveloped in a column of white light.

"Mode change to… Paladin Mode!" the dragon warrior called out as his second transformation finished.

Imperialdramon's armor and wings had become white, and a giant white sword with gold writing on it appeared in his hand. The Armageddemon fired another blast from its mouth at the dragon warrior, but Imperialdramon blocked the attack with his blade. HerculesKabuterimon then fired another blast of electricity from above.

"Omni Sword!" Imperialdramon called as he charged at the digital horror with his blade held high.

With one swing, the giant Digimon was cut in two. The two halves dissolved into particles of data in only a matter of seconds.

"Well, that was pretty easy." Imperialdramon remarked.

"Yeah. I'm not even sure why I'm here." HerculesKabuterimon agreed.

"We should probably see if we can help any of the others." Izzy suggested.

"Good idea." Davis agreed. And with that, the team flew off to another part of the city.

* * *

Alphamon approached the second Armageddemon from above as HiAndromon distracted the creature with blasts of green atomic energy from his hands. With his sword of light in hand, Alphamon seemed to vanish for a moment before reappearing in the sky above the digital abomination. Several cuts of white light suddenly appeared on the Armageddemon's body.

"Foul creature of the Digital World! I, Alphamon, shall put an end to thee!" the knight proclaimed as he unfurled his golden wings. "Digitalize of Soul!"

A magic circle of green light appeared in the sky and the massive head of a white dragon emerged. One shot from the dragon's mouth and the Armageddemon was obliterated. After the dragon and its circle vanished, Alphamon slowly came to the ground. Upon landing, the knight split back into Arthur and Dorumon. The little dragon Digimon fell on his side out of exhaustion. HiAndromon walked up to the two and split back into Jason and Hagurumon.

"You guys okay?" Jason asked.

"I'm fine, but Dorumon could use a good long rest." Arthur replied as he picked up the dragon. "It looks like we've done all we can for this fight."

"Then I guess I should contact one of the others teams and see if they can pick us up." Jason decided as he got out his phone. "Otherwise it's a long walk back to that mansion."

* * *

Omnimon and Hououmon approached the third Armageddemon from behind as it continued its rampage. As he landed, Omnimon fired several shots from his cannon at the insect-like monstrosity. Armageddemon's body became covered in a layer of frost and its movements slowed. But the creature managed to turn around and blast Omnimon with a shot from its mouth. The knight somehow withstood the attack and fired more shots from his cannon.

As the Armageddemon's body became completely frozen, Hououmon flapped her four wings and hit the creature with a wave of flames. The digital horror's body shattered and disintegrated into bits of data. With the battle at an end, Omnimon collapsed to his knees and split into a worn out Agumon and Gabumon. Hououmon landed on the street, allowing Tai and Matt to dismount and retrieve their fallen Digimon.

"You okay buddy?" Tai asked Agumon as he lifted the little dinosaur off the ground.

"Yeah. Gabumon and I just need some rest." Agumon answered.

"Considering the pounding Omnimon took from CountMyotismon, I'm surprised these guys lasted as long as they did." Matt observed.

"So what now?" Sora asked from atop Hououmon.

"I say we go see if we can help Norn." Tai suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Matt agreed. "After all, she is our niece."

* * *

Norn approached the final Armageddemon as it finished laying waste to another building. The creature noticed her approach and fired six large ammunition shells from its back. The shells exploded in midair and several pieces of shrapnel began to rain down.

Norn stopped her flight and raised her left hand in the air. "Victory Shield!"

A ray of orange light projected from her left hand and formed into a large transparent V-shaped shield, blocking much of the shell fragments. When the barrage ended, Norn continued her flight towards the Armageddemon. The creature fired a blast from its mouth at her, but Norn easily flew out of the attack's path.

After stopping a few feet before the Armageddemon, Norn raised her right arm and extended the cannons on her armor. "Zeed Cannon Blitz!"

With that, a massive barrage of shots stuck the giant monstrosity all over its body. When her attack ended, Norn extended the sword blade from her left arm and flew in closer to the wounded Armageddemon.

"Victory Sword Strike!" Norn called as she flew underneath the creature and her sword blade began to glow orange.

Norn flew under the entire length of the creature's body, leaving a large gash with her blade. After completing her trip, the armored girl flew back up into the air to look down at the Armageddemon.

"I regret doing this to you, but I cannot allow this destruction to continue." Norn told the wounded Armageddemon as she extended her arms forward. "Radiance Sanction!"

A beam of white light shot down from Norn's hands and struck the Armageddemon. A giant version of the combined crest of Hope and Light appeared on the ground beneath Armageddemon before shooting a massive pillar of light into the sky. The creature roared in pain as its body broke down into nothing. Only moments after the attack ended, Imperialdramon arrived with HerculesKabuterimon and Hououmon. They had picked up Arthur and Jason along the way.

"Uh, wow!" an awestruck Tai exclaimed. "Everything okay Norn?"

"Just fine, Uncle Tai." Norn answered. "Did you take care of the other three Armageddemon?"

"Yeah, we got 'em." Tai answered. "Why don't we go back to where your parents are now, okay?"

"Okay!" Norn replied before quickly flying off, leaving a streak of white light in her path.

* * *

Kari and T.K. watched with the others as a point of white light approached them from the sky. The light quickly became Norn and landed on the ground a few feet before them. Norn, Agu, and Gao split back into the forms they had before merging, afterwards Agu and Gao reverted to their Rookie forms.

"Norn, are you okay?" Kari asked.

"Everything's fine, mom." Norn assured her.

"There really wasn't any need for you to worry." Neo told Kari. "After all, Norn is the reincarnation of Yggdrasill."

"But… Yggdrasill was a protector god of the Digital World." Yolei recalled. "So, does that mean she has to go back there and continue that role?"

Norn smiled and shook her head. "The time of Yggdrasill has long since ended. If I were to try and take that role again, it would most likely upset the balance of the Digital World. Besides, I am not actually Yggdrasill itself. I'm only a girl with strange powers and Yggdrasill's memories. I would be far too human to for the job."

"So then that means you're staying, right?" T.K. assumed.

"I would like to." Norn answered. "But… I would understand if you and mom no longer wanted me, considering what I am."

Kari ran over to Norn and hugged her with tears in her eyes. "Don't be silly, Norn. You're our daughter, no matter how you came into this world. Nothing will ever change that."

T.K. walked over and placed a hand on Norn's head. The blonde girl smiled again as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Well Fido, it looks like we're going to be together for a little while." Gatomon told Gao as she approached.

"Great, I get to share an apartment with a mangy cat." Gao sarcastically responded.

"Watch it, kibble breath." Gatomon warned.

Soon after, Imperialdramon arrived with Hououmon and HerculesKabuterimon. Once the Digidestined dismounted, the three Mega Digimon reverted back to their Rookie forms.

Arthur walked up to Gwen and looked over at Norn, Kari, and T.K. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, they're just having a family moment." Gwen explained.

"I'll be going now." Neo suddenly spoke. "Before I leave, I'd like to apologize for all that I've done. I never meant for a lot of the things that happened to occur."

"Wait Neo! Do you really have to go?" Rei asked.

"I'm sorry, Rei. But there are some things I have to figure out." Neo told her. "I will return though. On that you have my word."

"Well… okay." Rei responded. "But try and come back soon."

Neo nodded and began to walk off with his hands in his pockets. But after a moment he stopped and looked back at Tai. "Kamiya. Take good care of my sister."

"Uh, okay. Sure thing." Tai replied.

Neo continued to walk away from the mansion with Keramon flying around him. The group kept their eyes on the two for a few moments as they faded into the distance.

"Rei, did your brother just give us permission to date or something?" Tai asked.

"Uh, maybe." Rei replied.

"Forget about that. What are we going to do about CountMyotismon?" Matt cut in. "He's still out there, you know."

"What? You mean you didn't finish him?" a stunned Davis asked.

"Gao and I almost got him, but he escaped." Agu explained. "I'm gonna cream that guy the next time I see him."

"But where did he go?" Izzy asked. "Could he have gone back to the Digital World?"

"He escaped to the Dark Ocean." Kari answered. "I could smell the air from that place when CountMyotismon went through the portal."

"Are you sure Kari?" Yolei asked.

"Trust me. I'll never forget that smell." Kari told her.

"Then Maybe I can try opening a portal to the Dark Ocean so we can go there and hunt him down." Ken suggested.

"No, you mustn't!" Norn told him. "Opening portals to the Dark Ocean is far too dangerous. You'd be inviting darkness into your heart."

"I know where you're coming from, Norn. But Ken's done this before." Yolei informed her.

"Then he should stop!" Norn told the group. "If he opens up portals to that place too often… it could prove fatal."

"You mean… Ken could die?" a shocked Yolei asked.

"It's just as well. I doubt I could do it again anyway." Ken assumed.

"T.K., Kari, and Norn seem to be the only ones who can do any real damage to CountMyotismon anyway." Matt pointed out. "It probably wouldn't be good for any of them to go back there."

"So then how are we going to take care of CountMyotismon?" Davis asked.

"The only option at the moment is to wait for him to make his next move." Arthur answered. "It will probably be some time before that happens though. He was greatly wounded. Plus he's probably going to try and find another way of getting the powers of Yggdrasill. Fortunately this means we'll have more time to prepare for his return."

"Well since we're going to have a lot of time, let's just go home for today." Kari suggested. "It's been a very long night."

"Good idea." T.K. agreed.

* * *

It was morning as T.K., Kari, and Norn went with Arthur, Gwen, and Jason to the airport. They didn't have to wait long for Arthur's family jet to be refueled. And only fifteen minutes after they arrived, they were standing by the gate.

"Thanks for all your help, guys." T.K. told the three Team Excalibur members.

"Think nothing of it, old boy." Arthur replied. "We should all do this again sometime."

"Oh no! I am not going to fight a crazed Vampire Digimon and his insect freaks again if I can help it!" Gwen declared.

"I didn't mean that part, you razor-tongued witch." Arthur told her through gritted teeth.

"We should probably be going now." Jason decided. "You guys take care."

"You too." Kari replied.

After Dorumon went over and licked Norn real quick the three American Digidestined and their partners headed for their plane. As the Takaishi family headed out of the airport, they passed by what looked like a small ice cream shop. Norn's face lit up as soon as she saw the place. She had tasted ice cream once before since coming to live with Kari and T.K. and had greatly enjoyed it.

"Mom, can I stop in that shop real quick for an ice cream cone?" Norn requested.

"Well… okay." Kari agreed as she handed Norn some money. "But don't take too long to pick something out."

"Hey Norn. Gatomon and I can help you decide what to get if you want." Patamon suggested.

"Okay." Norn agreed. And with that, she headed into the shop with the two Digimon plus Agu and Gao.

As they waited for Norn to pick something out at the shop, T.K. noticed the smile on Kari's face. "You seem pretty happy."

"I am." Kari admitted. "You know, even after we beat Lucemon there's always been a part of me that's been afraid that prison at the Dark Ocean. Like the happiness I had finally found wouldn't last. But ever since we got Norn, I feel like my life is finally moving away from that nightmare. It's a little hard to explain."

"I think I kind of know what you mean." T.K. agreed. "It feels like we've begun a whole new chapter in our lives."

Moments later, Norn returned with a cone of chocolate ice cream in her right hand. After the girl used her free hand to hold Kari's, the family exited the airport and headed for home.

* * *

Deep within an ancient and dusty room with grey brick walls, a black coffin with gold trim burst open and a pillar of blood gushed out. The pillar of blood quickly took the form of CountMyotismon's Nobleman Mode. Floating into the chamber was a Bakemon, a Digimon whose body was a tattered white sheet that made it look like a ghost. It had a fanged mouth and small beady black eyes. Using what could be considered arms the ghostly creature carried a silver tray with a wineglass full of blood on it.

"Here you are, my lord." The Bakemon spoke in a male voice. "You must be famished after your regeneration process."

With a scowl on his face, CountMyotismon grabbed the glass off the tray and drank its contents in one gulp. Afterwards he threw the empty glass against the wall. "I'm going to go hunting. Seducing some human women will help relieve my frustration."

"Before you leave, my lord, the Elder One wishes to speak with you." Bakemon informed him.

CountMyotismon sighed heavily as he stepped out of his coffin. He had deep respect for the being that he and the Bakemon called the Elder One, but he was in no mood for a lecture. And a lecture was what the vampire lord was sure he was going to get. After a moment, CountMyotismon left the room and headed into the darkened hallway of the castle. Within a few minutes he arrived in a vast chamber that was extremely dark. He knew there was someone in the room, but he didn't need to see him in order to know who he was.

The vampire lord walked to the center of the chamber and kneeled before the darkness. "You wished to speak with me, Elder One?"

"You were careless, CountMyotismon." The Elder One told him in a gentlemanly voice that had a slight accent. "In your lust for vengeance, you failed to realize your own weakness. Now not only is the power of Yggdrasill out of your reach, you have also created our most powerful enemy. The Child of Radiance."

"I admit that I've miscalculated, but Norn is a mistake that is easily corrected." CountMyotismon declared.

"You are the one who can make Vampire Digimon such as ourselves the supreme beings of the human and Digital Worlds." The Elder One responded. "That is why I have given you refuge here in my castle. I have no doubt that you can find a way to deal with the Child of Radiance, but what of the power of Yggdrasill? Without that, you will not be able ascend to your supreme form."

"You needn't worry about the power of Yggdrasill." CountMyotismon assured him with a grin. "The fragment used to create Norn may be lost, but there are other pieces of Yggdrasill still out there. Once I find a way to use one of those fragments to create the proper vessel for the power within, I shall take that power for myself and become a god!"

"Just don't let your ambition get the better of you." The Elder One warned. "Even you can only make so many mistakes."

"Fortunately I've learned from most of my mistakes." CountMyotismon replied. "Next time, even the Digidestined and their Child of Radiance won't be able to stop me!"

THE END

* * *

**Afterward:** So that pretty much does it for this story. I know, ten chapters is kind of short. But then this story pretty much is about the same length as my other Digimon stories. I had fun working on this particular tale. This is my first story in the Family genre though, so I'm sure there are things I could've done better. Still, I liked doing a story the brought my favorite character from the _Digimon Next_ manga into the world of _Adventure/Tamers_. Even though I had to reinvent her a little bit.

I realize that this story kind of makes a slight departure from the little epilogue at the end of _Adventure 02_ (something I sort of said I wouldn't do back when I worked on _Home by the Sea_). But then the ending to that series could've been a little better anyway. So I'm obviously not done with these Digimon stories yet, as CountMyotismon wasn't killed off (and I still need to do my Team Excalibur prequel). I do have ideas for a few more. One of which is a direct sequel to this story that focuses more on Norn. But for now, I thank everyone who read and/or reviewed this story. I hope you all enjoyed it.

Please review and let me know what you think.


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